Hundreds of residents and tourists were evacuated on the Greek island of Lesbos after a fire broke out, burning houses and threatening villages.
Fifty firefighters with 17 trucks and nine firefighting aircraft were working to extinguish the fire alongside volunteers and tanker trucks provided by the local government, the Greek Fire Service said in a televised interview on Sunday.
The fire, which started on Saturday morning, breaks out near the coastal township of the island of Vatera, a popular destination for tourists. One of the fire’s fronts appeared to be retreating, officials said on Sunday.
According to Greek public broadcaster ERT, more than 450 people have been evacuated since Saturday to other parts of the island and nine people have been rescued on a beach near Vatera. More than 26 buildings were damaged by the fire.
Greece has been hit hard by wildfires in recent days, while Europe grappled with a record heat wave that also caused fires in France and Italy.
Elsewhere in the country, 320 firefighters with 68 trucks and six firefighting planes tried to contain a wildfire in Greece’s Dadia National Park, threatening nests of black vultures – a rare species of bird – for a fourth day.
Located in the northeast border region of Evros, Dadia National Park belongs to Natura 2000, the European Union’s network of main breeding and resting places for rare and endangered species. It is home to the only colony of black vultures in the Balkans.
On Sunday, Greek Minister for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Christos Stylianides, took a group of officials to Dadia to assess the situation and find ways to avert an even greater ecological disaster.
Stylianides said the visit aims to coordinate efforts to contain the fire in order to “save our national park – a symbol of our natural environment that all of Europe cares about”.
“All of Greece has its eyes on Dadia now and we must fulfill our duty to protect this precious ecosystem,” he added.
Greece is experiencing a prolonged heat wave with temperatures expected to reach 43C and many parts of the country are under fire alert.
Source: CNN Brasil
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