Athens News Agency: News in English, 09-08-23

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From: The Athens News Agency at <http://www.ana.gr/>

CONTENTS

[01] PM briefed on wildfires

[02] Massive wildfires NE of Athens

[01] PM briefed on wildfires

Speaking afterwards, Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said the situation was grave due to the gusty winds blowing in the country and the terrain in the specific region. Additionally, he said securing life and property is the first order of business for fire-fighters and emergency response crews.

It was following this specific meeting that Deputy Interior Minister Christos Markoyiannakis announced that Athens was requesting assistance from its European allies, within the framework of the FIRE 5 mechanism.

Later in the evening, Karamanlis arrived at the fire brigade's command operations centre for a briefing on the current state of wildfires (at approximately 22:30 local time).

".... The situation continues to be difficult. A major effort is continuing on all the fronts and during the night by land forces. I wish, on this occasion, to express a very big thank you to all those participating in this very difficult struggle," the prime minister stated.

[02] Massive wildfires NE of Athens

On Saturday, with winds gusting up to 7 on the Beaufort scale, the Greek fire brigade announced an unprecedented 83 small to large wildfires around the country, including an initially menacing blaze east of Karystos on southern-most Evia island, a total of four separate wildfires on the Ionian island of Zakynthos, two wildfires on the island of Skyros, one in central Viotia prefecture and a fire in the Dymis municipality outside the western port city of Patras. Fires on Zakynthos reportedly reignited while another wildfire erupted next to the island's landfill. Some 1,000 hectares of forestland were turned into ashes on the island. Moreover, a new press release on Sunday morning reported 65 forest fires of various sizes and intensity around the country since 6:30 a.m. (04:30 GMT).

Amid the declaration of a state of emergency in northern Attica prefecture, north of greater Athens, and a full mobilisation of Greece's hefty fire-fighting apparatus, the government requested aid from its European allies, with the first fire-fighting aircraft from abroad patrolling by Sunday afternoon.

The multi-front blaze was active in a triangle between the community of Pikermi in the south, Grammitiko and Varnavas in the northeast and Aghios Stefanos in the northwest, a large swath of territory that includes pine forests, large expanses of pastureland, residential communities, crops and olive groves as well as hills and mountain peaks. Particular emphasis was being placed on preventing wildfires from bypassing the Dionysos mountain slopes, areas ravaged by wildfires in the previous two decades, although in the early afternoon (12.30GMT) television footage showed flames licking houses on the slopes of nearby Mount Penteli, and specifically in the Ano Vrilissia district.

Later in the afternoon fronts were reported near the Pallini township in eastern Attica prefecture and further south near the town of Markopoulo and the Kalyvia site, as newly erupted wildfires were being added to the ongoing blazes. The recent spate of wildfires began on Thursday, with a wildfire erupting in the Magoula district of industrial western Attica prefecture.

The worst wildfire fronts by the early evening were in the Kalentzi district just east of Lake Marathon, Varnavas and Pallini, east of Athens proper. The firestorm that rushed through the Aghios Stefanos municipality, north of Athens and Mount Dionysos, was ebbing towards nightfall. Conflicting reports had earlier referred to an evacuation of Aghios Stefanos, a residential and commercial centre some 35 kilometres north of downtown Athens.

In the late afternoon on Sunday, Greek Police's (EL.AS) headquarters urged returning holiday-makers to avoid using the northern highways leading into Athens unless absolutely necessary, in order to facilitate fire brigade operations in regions north of the city.

According to reports on Sunday, a total of 130 fire engines, 26 military vehicles, some 500 fire-fighters aided by 340 troops, 20 aircraft, along with 30 water tankers and more than 500 vehicles from adjoining municipalities are involved in efforts to battle the fires.

The European Commission also announced the activation of the Union's civil defence mechanism on Saturday evening, with two Italian fire-fighting aircraft already patrolling over southern Greece, while another two French planes were reportedly en route to Greece as well. Cyprus also announced its willingness to dispatch 70 fire-fighters and four aircraft.

In a later report from Vienna, Austria's defence ministry announced that it will send six firefighting aircraft and helicopters to Greece. Additionally, 30 military officers and a Hercules C-130 transport aircraft will escort the firefighting aircraft.

Problems were expected reported in power lines in affected regions, although the state energy company PPC said its high-voltage lines are unaffected and no problems are foreseen for the greater Athens area. Four medium-voltage lines were down, PPC stated, with 200 repairmen and linesmen sent to affected areas.

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