It is the largest fire ever recorded in Europe that has been devouring the woods in northern Greece for 11 days and which still appears to be out of control, in the Alexandropoli region, near the border with Turkey. The dramatic figure was announced by the spokesman of the European Commission Balazs Ujvari adding that Brussels has sent 11 planes and two firefighting helicopters to Athens to deal with the flames.
The European Union also specified that the flames destroyed all the vegetation in an area of 810 square kilometres, equal to the surface of the entire city of New York. “The fire is the largest since this kind of data began to be recorded in Europe”, i.e. since 2000, according to what was communicated by the EU forest service. For its part, the Greek Civil Protection confirmed that the fire, which broke out on August 19, is still out of control and cost the lives of 20 people, mainly migrants who, after secretly entering Greece from Turkey, were camped in the woods.
A “fleet” of 28 planes and 4 helicopters is currently engaged in fighting the fire. Up until 23 August, 1,200,000 hectares of forest had been destroyed throughout the country, an area three times larger than the average area destroyed in the period 2006-2022. Fires are also underway in various areas behind Athens: the smoke in some areas has darkened the sky.
2023-08-29 18:15:12
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