Greece (TDI): On Sunday, Greece and its neighboring Turkey continued fighting major wildfires across the country due to an extreme heat wave. Due to extreme heat, the temperature in central Greece reached 42.4 °C on Sunday.
It has been reported that firefighters worked on five major areas of Greece, which include the Peloponnese area west of Athens, as well as on the islands of Evia, Kythira, and Crete. The neighboring Turkey also recorded the highest temperatures as fire raged in several regions.
Turkey’s forestry minister, Ibrahim Yumakli, said that areas affected by fires were “going through risky times” and that he thought it would be several days before they were fully contained.
Turkey’s environment ministry also announced that meteorologists have recorded a reading of 50.5 °C in the south-eastern city of Silopi, breaking the highest temperature record of 49.5 °C.Â
On the other hand, Greece has requested assistance from the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism and asked for six firefighting aircraft as high winds continue to spread wildfire in various areas.Â
Fire brigade spokesman Vasilios Vathrakoyannis said early on Sunday that the situation is pretty much better and improved after an “all-night battle.”
Read More:Â 10 Firefighters Killed, 14 Injured in Wildfire Tragedy in Northwestern Turkey
Giannis Kefalogiannis, climate crisis and civil protection minister, said: “We have injured firefighters, human lives were put at risk, properties have been burned, and forest areas have been destroyed.”
It is also reported that on Saturday morning in the village of Pitsinades, about 20% of the island has been destroyed due to a wildfire that broke out and spread quickly. Evacuation orders were declared on Sunday, urging civilians to evacuate the areas under threat of wildfires.Â
On the island of Evia, officials informed of a blaze near Pissona that got “out of control” on Saturday and injured firefighters as six firefighters were admitted to the hospital with burns and smoke inhalation, while several villages were left without power.
Vathrakoyannis announced on Sunday that 67 firefighters were attending the Kythira fire and 100 were in Messinia, where there is an active fire yet.
Recently, last month, fires on Greece’s biggest island, Chios, located in the northern Aegean, destroyed about 4,700 hectares of land. Earlier this month, a wildfire on the island of Crete led to the evacuation of 5,000 tourists.
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