Thousands of tourists and residents have been evacuated in Athens and on the Greek island of Crete as fires burn across the country.
Similar evacuations are taking place in neighboring Turkey, where at least two people have died in the fires.
Newsweek has reached out to Greece’s Ministry of Environment and Energy, Turkey’s Ministry for Agriculture and Forestry, and Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management team for comment via email on Thursday.
The Context
Wildfires are common in the Mediterranean during summer months, but their frequency and intensity are increasing, largely as a result of climate change. The wildfire comes amid a scorching heatwave across Europe, which has left multiple people dead and hundreds hospitalized.
Tourism and the hospitality industry play a crucial role in the economies of Greece and Turkey, providing jobs for millions. Crete is one of the country’s most popular vacation destinations.
What to Know About the Wildfires in Greece
Hot and dry conditions have helped feed the wildfires in Greece, with blazes on Crete and other smaller fires not far outside Athens, including Rafina, a port east of Athens.
More than 5,000 tourists, hotel workers and residents have been evacuated from the Ierapetra area on the southern coast of Crete, the Associated Press reported. Rugged terrain, arid conditions and strong winds have intensified the fire and helped it spread.
The fire started Wednesday afternoon right outside Ierapetra, spreading extensively on Thursday, with more than 200 firefighters fighting the flames, along with 46 vehicles, 10 helicopters and several drones, the fire department’s spokesperson, Chief Vasilios Vathrakoyannis, said in a statement Thursday.
Tourists took buses across the island to hotels away from the flames, while officials in Ierapetra opened an indoor training center as a temporary shelter for others.
What to Know About the Wildfires in Turkey
There is a fire not far from the popular vacation seaside destination of Izmir, and another in Cesme. They took the lives of two people, an 81-year-old and a person battling the flames.
Agriculture Minister Ibrahim Yumakli confirmed on X, formerly Twitter, that forest worker İbrahim Demir was killed. Local reports and lawmakers said an elderly, bedridden man also died.
Roads between Izmir and Cesme were temporarily closed, reopening on Thursday evening. Videos of fire crews working day and night to contain the blazes have been shared by the Yumakli on social media.
In a press conference on July 3, he said: “In the last week, we have brought 621 out of 624 fires under control. Today, we fought 9 major fires and brought 6 of them under control.”
Other fires have broken out near Antalya and Istanbul but were quickly contained.
What People Are Saying
Ibrahim Yumakli, Turkey’s minister of agriculture and forestry, on X on Thursday: “Our forest worker İbrahim Demir was martyred while fighting to protect our green homeland in the fire in Ödemiş, İzmir…May the forest community and our nation find solace.”
A Greek fire brigade spokesperson, Vassilis Vathrakogiannis, on Thursday: “There are wind gusts in the area, some measuring nine on the Beaufort scale, triggering rekindling and hindering firefighting efforts.”
Nektarios Papadakis, a civil protection official at the regional authority, told the Associated Press: “It’s a very difficult situation. The fire is very hard to contain. Right now, they cannot contain it…The tourists who were moved out are all okay. They have been taken to an indoor basketball arena and hotels in other regions of the island.”
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