DNYUZ
  • Home
  • News
    • U.S.
    • World
    • Politics
    • Opinion
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Science
  • Entertainment
    • Culture
    • Music
    • Movie
    • Television
    • Theater
    • Gaming
    • Sports
  • Tech
    • Apps
    • Autos
    • Gear
    • Mobile
    • Startup
  • Lifestyle
    • Arts
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health
    • Travel
No Result
View All Result
DNYUZ
No Result
View All Result
Home News

1,500 People Evacuated as Wildfire Rages on Greek Island of Crete

July 3, 2025
in News
Tourists Evacuated as Firefighters Battle Crete Blaze
492
SHARES
1.4k
VIEWS
Share on FacebookShare on Twitter

About 1,500 people, many of them tourists, were evacuated from hotels and homes on the Greek island of Crete on Thursday as firefighters struggled to control a wildfire in arid conditions.

Greece, like much of southern Europe, has been experiencing a heat wave that has created the hot and dry conditions that exacerbate wildfires. On Crete, temperatures were forecast to hover between 33 and 36 degrees Celsius, or 91.4 to 96.8 Fahrenheit, and Greece’s meteorological service issued an alert for extremely high temperatures.

Firefighters were also working to douse smaller blazes on the Greek mainland, and Greece’s civil protection ministry issued an orange alert signaling a “very high” risk of fires for Friday in the Athens area, the southern Peloponnese peninsula and several Aegean Islands.

In Crete, more than 200 firefighters worked to douse the blaze from several angles in the sweltering heat, but their work was made more difficult by gale-force winds and rugged mountain terrain, Greece’s fire service spokesman, Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis, told a televised news conference.

Wind gusts of up to about 50 miles per hour were “creating new spots and fronts, making the firefighting effort much more difficult,” he said.

The fire began in villages outside Ierapetra, a city on the island’s southwestern coast. As it spread overnight and into Thursday, the island’s authorities, including members of the coast guard, hustled to evacuate hundreds of people.

About 1,200 of those were tourists, said the mayor, Manolis Frangoulis. There were no reports of injuries or deaths.

“It was like hell on earth,” the mayor said. “There were thousands of patches of fire, springing up everywhere each time the wind blew and threw blazing pine cones this way and that.”

Kathy Kearns, 68, who was visiting the village of Agios Ioannis, decided to pack her bags after seeing black smoke billowing over the horizon on Wednesday evening.

“Since I live in California, I know this scenario well,” she said. “The wind blows embers for miles.”

Many more tourists boarded buses to other hotels and centers that had been set up on safer parts of the island, with the glow of wildfires in the background, according to video broadcast on Greek television.

In recent weeks, fires have devastated tens of thousands of acres of land in Greece. Last month, a fire on the island of Khios burned nearly 15,000 acres of forest and officials evacuated dozens of communities.

Lynsey Chutel is a Times reporter based in London who covers breaking news in Africa, the Middle East and Europe.

Niki Kitsantonis is a freelance correspondent for The Times based in Athens. She has been writing about Greece for 20 years, including more than a decade of coverage for The Times.

The post 1,500 People Evacuated as Wildfire Rages on Greek Island of Crete appeared first on New York Times.

Share197Tweet123Share
Arizona Democrats slam US House for passing ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ now on way to Trump’s desk
News

Arizona Democrats slam US House for passing ‘Big, Beautiful Bill’ now on way to Trump’s desk

by KTAR
July 3, 2025

PHOENIX — Several Democratic lawmakers representing Arizona in Congress slammed the U.S. House of Representatives for passing a massive budget ...

Read more
News

NY Giants Standout Gushes Over Rookie QB Jaxson Dart

July 3, 2025
News

How to Watch Washington Mystics vs Minnesota Lynx: Live Stream WNBA, TV Channel

July 3, 2025
News

WATCH LIVE: Trump kicks off 250th anniversary of the US with patriotic rally

July 3, 2025
News

Why Don’t the Iranian People Rise Up?

July 3, 2025
The Supreme Court Just Teed Up a Major Ruling on Transgender Athletes

The Supreme Court Just Teed Up a Major Ruling on Transgender Athletes

July 3, 2025
CBS News poll on why Americans fly the flag

CBS News poll on why Americans fly the flag

July 3, 2025
Russia Is First Country to Recognize Taliban Rule in Afghanistan

Russia Is First Country to Recognize Taliban Rule in Afghanistan

July 3, 2025

Copyright © 2025.

No Result
View All Result
  • Home
  • News
    • U.S.
    • World
    • Politics
    • Opinion
    • Business
    • Crime
    • Education
    • Environment
    • Science
  • Entertainment
    • Culture
    • Gaming
    • Music
    • Movie
    • Sports
    • Television
    • Theater
  • Tech
    • Apps
    • Autos
    • Gear
    • Mobile
    • Startup
  • Lifestyle
    • Arts
    • Fashion
    • Food
    • Health
    • Travel

Copyright © 2025.