GREECE

Fires tore through 100,000 acres of forests

in the Attica region

August 2024 There are no longer any active wildfires in the wider Athens area, but officials remain on high alert, Greece’s chief fire brigade spokesman has said. Milder winds and extensive efforts by the emergency services have helped bring the blazes under control. One woman died and dozens more people - including firefighters - were injured after the fires tore through 100,000 acres (40,470 hectares) of land. Thousands of local residents have been evacuated. The Greek authorities are now assessing the damage and preparing compensation schemes for affected residents as well as businesses. The interior ministry has allocated €4.7m in emergency funding to areas affected by wildfires though less than 10% of the burnt land is forested, according to reports in Greek media. More than 700 firefighters, 199 fire engines and 35 waterbombing aircraft have been involved altogether in efforts to extinguish the fires, which first broke out on Sunday afternoon about 35km (22 miles) north of the Greek capital. By Monday, blazes were confirmed in 40 different locations, with some areas seeing flames as high as 25m (82ft). Though the fires have largely abated, firefighters are continuing to douse the ground and maintain a strong presence in the capital region. Suburbs including Nea Penteli, Vrilissia and Patima Halandriou are among the worst affected areas. One Nea Penteli resident, Marina, described how she had been forced to flee her own neighbourhood in Nea Penteli for a nearby town, only to be evacuated a second time as the flames reached there too. “My friend’s house – he probably lost everything: he has no belongings. And while everything was happening, even our school burned down. All our memories were there,” she said. In Vrilissia, just 14km (8 miles) from central Athens, buildings and businesses were left gutted by the flames, The body of a 63-year-old woman was found in a burned-out factory in nearby Patima Halandriou. Colleagues said she had been too scared to jump from the building as the flames came close and was then trapped inside. In the wake of the wildfires that have ripped through Attica in recent years, experts insist that successful reforestation requires meticulous studies tailored to the specific areas that have been burnt. “Not all forests or woodlands are in the same condition. They don’t have the same fire history. There are those that have burned multiple times and others that have burned less frequently, because unfortunately all of northeast Attica has been repeatedly affected by fire. There are tall mature forests. There are areas that have burned before but have regenerated naturally. There cannot be a single approach, a detailed check is required, with a record of the history and land uses of each area,” says Margarita Arianoutsou, emeritus professor of ecology in the Department of Biology of the National and Kapodistrian University of Athens. She notes that in cases where the time since the previous fire is 15 years or more, “we do not need to do anything, as the Aleppo pine forests, which grow in Attica, have the possibility of natural regeneration under certain conditions.” Arianoutsou stressed that any use other than forestry must be prevented. Affected areas must be declared within two months as places that will be reforested. The only thing that needs to be done, she maintains, is appropriate interventions to contain soil erosion, against floods etc. The BEYOND unit of the Institute for Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing of the Athens Observatory identified 99 scorched areas left behind by the fire in northeastern Attica on August 11-12. The mixed forest and peri-urban forest area covers 48 hectares. This includes 39% transitional forest and shrubland, 26% hardwood vegetation, as well as 19.5% in areas with sparse vegetation and scattered buildings, 12% agricultural land, and 3.5% discontinuous urban building. According to BEYOND, it was the second worst fire in burnt land that has occurred in Attica after that which occurred in 2009 in the same area.

Greek Tribune Adelaide, South Australia