More than 250 firefighters are fighting, for the sixth night in a row, against a devastating forest fire on the tourist island of Rhodes, and the authorities remain on alert to protect the population, the firefighters said on Sunday evening.
” Conditions [météorologiques] stay extreme […] “, warned a spokesman for the firefighters, Vassilis Vathrakogiannis, during a press briefing at the end of the day, when the mercury rose to more than 46 ° C in the Southwest.
“All Civil Protection forces remain on high alert,” he added, the day after the sheltering of around 30,000 residents and tourists.
Greece, a Mediterranean country, is however accustomed to heat waves.
According to the national meteorological services EMY, temperatures are expected to remain above 40°C with 41°C to 42°C expected in the Peloponnese and in the center of the country on Monday.
” Today [dimanche]there were 64 new wildfires” across the country, the spokesperson added.
In Euboea, an island located just a hundred kilometers from Athens ravaged by devastating fires during the summer of 2021, several residential areas had to be evacuated due to the fires.
He specified that the fire which mobilized the most firefighters remained that of the island of Rhodes without, however, indicating whether the flames had spread during the day, or when the firefighters planned to manage to contain the fire.
Strong winds of up to 50 km / h still blow on this island of the Dodecanese archipelago, temperatures of 46.4 ° C having been recorded in Gythio, in the Peloponnese peninsula (southwest), according to the National Observatory of Athens.
A historic evacuation operation
Some 270 firefighters are deployed in the south-east of the island, where the fire forced mass evacuations on Saturday, including many tourists staying in hotels on the coast.
No less than 10 Canadairs and 8 helicopters are operating in this area, as well as 49 fire engines, according to another fire department spokesman, Yannis Artopios.
“This is the largest evacuation operation ever carried out in Greece […] Everything went well. Everyone, especially the tourists, followed what we ordered,” firefighter spokeswoman Konstantia Dimoglidou said earlier.
Hundreds of tourists waited Sunday at Rhodes International Airport, located in the northwest of the island, looking for a flight home.
In the departures hall, some were lying or even asleep on the floor, in the middle of the luggage, while others scrutinized the flight display panel, found Agence France-Presse.
A total of twelve localities were evacuated, including Lindos, one of the main tourist attractions of the island with its Acropolis perched on a hill.
Cédric Guisset, a Belgian tourist sheltered on Saturday, explained to RTBF radio that he had to leave his hotel on foot without a planned drop-off point after receiving alert messages on his mobile phone.
At the hotel, “they weren’t even aware, we really just took our identity cards, water, something to cover our faces, our heads”, he said.
People who had to leave their homes or hotels were accommodated in gymnasiums, schools or conference centers.
In the center of the country and on the Peloponnese peninsula, temperatures between 45°C and 46.4°C were recorded in the afternoon, according to the National Observatory of Athens.
According to the national meteorological observatory on Saturday, this country is going through “probably” the longest heat wave in its history.
The island of Rhodes, which has more than 100,000 inhabitants, is one of the most popular tourist destinations in Greece, with British, German or French tourists.
Rhodes recorded 2.5 million tourist arrivals last year.