The first major fire of the year
The firefighting season started in earnest in Greece this week as temperatures rose to the mid-30s, reaching 40C in some places. The first major fire of the year, on the island of Chios, appears to have started on five different fronts on Sunday and burned through 40,000 stremmata of forest and agricultural land before being got under control on Wednesday. At its height more than 400 firemen with 14 firefighting helicopters and four aircraft were deployed to different locations on the island.
Tag Archives: ministry for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection
700,000 land clearance declarations meet the deadline
A total of 701,823 declarations of clearance by landowners had been made by the expiry of the deadline on 15th June. According to information from the ministry for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, the last week saw a sharp increase in the number of declarations made to the platform akatharista.apps.gov.gr., with nearly 90,000 declarations.
Continue readingHiring of seasonal firemen extended
Every year the high temperatures and strong winds of the summer season cause a massive upsurge in forest fires, and as a result there is a demand for extra firefighters. In addition the effects of climate change are causing longer periods of high temperatures, which place extra demands on the firefighting services. Even during the cooler periods of autumn and spring, unseasonable temperatures can cause forest fires, as occurred in the middle of March, when a temporary no-fires period was declared in Crete from the 12th to the 18th of the month.
Continue reading