The firefighters in Greece managed Thursday to circumscribe a large forest fire which threatened Patras, the third city in the country, while bombers of water fought against fires on three other fronts.
The situation in Patras, the main Greek port to Italy, in the west of the country, has improved a lot after a fight against the flames that lasted all night, said firefighters spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis on television.
In Patras, the firefighters were now facing ‘scattered’ households, but the fire was ‘still active’ in the east suburbs of the city of 250,000 inhabitants, he said.
The police announced Thursday that they had arrested three men, aged 19 to 27, suspected of having triggered several of the fires near Patras.
Hardened penalties
The conservative government has decided, since 2024, to tighten sanctions against fire perpetrators who can be sentenced to sentences of up to 20 years in prison and a fine of up to 200,000 euros.
On Wednesday, a children’s hospital and a retirement home had been evacuated while the fire had dangerously close to the city.
The fire had arrived the day before the suburbs of Patras and ravaged a pound, destroying more than 500 vehicles.
According to Alexandros Dimitrakopoulos, professor of forestry at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, forest fires in Greece now regularly affect urban areas.
‘We have seen it in the great region of Athens since 2021, now it is in Patras,’ he said on the public television channel ERT.
Other important fires raged Thursday on the Ionian island of Zante (west), the Aegean island of Chios (East) and near the western city of Pressveza, said the spokesman.
‘The situation has improved well on most fronts,’ assured Theodoros Vagias, lieutenant Sapper firefighter, during a press point.
‘Between August 11 and 12, 159 fire starts were recorded in Greece. Near Patras, on August 12, six households occupied us at the same time, “he also added.
Hundreds of fronts
Criticized by the opposition for the mismanagement of these fires, the Minister of the Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Giannis Kefalogiannis argued that ‘the state apparatus was called upon to manage hundreds of fronts throughout Greece’.
‘We are at the most difficult time of the season’, he also warned, calling on all citizens to remain vigilant.
By citing data from the European Copernicus satellite surveillance program, the Athens Observatory said Thursday that current fires in the Patras region, on the Aegean Island of Chios, on the Ionian island of Zante and near the city of PREVEZA had consumed more than 10,000 hectares.
About 600 teams on the ground and nearly 30 water bombers were deployed at dawn on all sites.
The decrease in the intensity of the wind favored fire fighting efforts on Thursday.
Greece has known several major forest fires since June that destroyed more than 20,000 hectares.
The fires have been favored by very high temperatures, which scientists attribute to the aggravation of climate change induced by humans.
/ATS