Active wildfires were reported on Tuesday afternoon in a handful of regions around Greece, namely, on the island of Zakynthos, near the western port city of Patras, in western Greece’s Aetoloakarnia prefecture and further north near the coastal city of Preveza, with a total of 106 blazes in rural, semi-rural and remote areas stretching thin the country’s fire-fighting ability.
Athens on Tuesday afternoon requested four water-dropping aircraft from the EU’s civil defense mechanism.
In several instances, civil defense authorities issued warnings via the 112 SMS platform for local residents to be vigilant or to evacuate.
The wildfire near Patras caused the temporary closure of a provincial highway leading from the industrial zone towards the city of Tripolis in the central Peloponnese, while residents of several settlements were ordered to evacuate. A section of the Patras-Pyrgos highway was also shut off to traffic. A sizeable fire-fighting force was at the scene, assisted by aircraft and municipal crews operating heavy machinery and water tanks. Three fire-fighters were reportedly injured.
On the Ionian Sea Island of Zakynthos a wildfire scorched the village of Ayala, with reports of damages to several houses. Another front of the same wildfire was moving towards to the village of Keri, while burning through a pine forest in the process.
On the other side of the mainland, in the Aegean Sea, a wildfire was reported in a forested site near the Halandra site on the island of Chios (Hios). Residents of at least two settlements were notified to evacuate.
Back on the mainland, and specifically northwest Greece, three separate blazes were reported almost simultaneously in the prefectures of Arta and Preveza. The most ominous was in the Zita municipality of Preveza, with flames reaching the settlement of Gymnotopo amid very gusty winds.
The blaze reached the main north-south tollway (Ionia Odos), with the highway’s operator closing off the specific segment to traffic in the north-bound lane from the Filippiada intersection to the Gorgomylo intersection. Vehicles were diverted to the old Ioannina-Arta highway.
Finally, a wildfire was underway at the Stamna site in Aetoloakarnania prefecture, with another notification here issued for local residents.
