Athens: Nearly 100,000 hectares of forestry and agricultural land have been burned in less than two weeks in Greece in the worst fire wave since 2007, the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) said on Wednesday.
Prime Minister Kyriakos Mistakis illustrates 586 fires that destroy several areas in Greece in just a few days as “extraordinary natural natural disasters.” More than 93,600 hectares (231,000 hectares) rose in smoke in just 14 days, triggered by extraordinary Heatwavers who attacked in early August, according to AFP calculations based on Effic data from July 29 to August 11.
The average burning period between 2008-2020 is 2,330 hectares.
“They are still very destructive today everywhere, and have a rare level of intensity,” according to Mark Parryats from Copernicus, European climate change services, which include effic.
The symbolic threshold of 100,000 hectares burned in Greece is expected to be achieved on Thursday or Friday, when the fire continues to rage on Wednesday in Peloponnese in the West and Evia Island in the East.
Evia, Greece’s second largest island, has bears the burden of fire, home for more than half the total area burned.
The thick pine forest, still burned on Wednesday, mostly reduced to ashes in the northern part of the island.
While the fire is expected to remember very dry conditions, no one suggested a terrible scale, said Charalampos Kontoes, Director of the National Observatory in Athens.
“To a certain extent, the fire is expected because the season is very dry,” said Contoes to AFP.
“But I can tell you that in Greece, we never have a big fire.
We have fire during the summer but not on that size.” Overall, a total of around 110,000 hectares had been burned this year on August 11, with more than 90% damage to the past two weeks.
It was compared with an average of more than 9,000 hectares for the previous 12 years, according to the latest numbers.
“Our data shows that we do not have an intense fire since August 2007,” said Parrington.
More than 250,000 hectares of forest and olive gardens were burned in August 2007 in forest fires that killed 77 people.
This year’s fire came when Greece suffered worst heat waves in three decades.
For a week, the temperature reached 45 degrees Celsius in several parts of the country, and teased with 43 degrees Celsius hidden in the capital of Athens.
Experts say there is a clear relationship between the Heatwave and climate change.
The draft assessment of the United Nations Judging by AFP describes the Mediterranean as a “hotspot climate change”, said the increase in temperature has extended the fire season.
“The link between the climate and clear fire in the Mediterranean Europe,” said Matthew Jones, an expert in climate change at the University of East Anglia in the East England.
“Since the 1980s, the annual number of days with extreme fire weather conditions roughly multiply, dramatically increases the risk of forest fires.” “Many agricultural areas have also been destroyed,” said Konto National Observatory, added that this would have a devastating effect on the economy of the people affected by fire.
The land will take “year to regenerate”, he said.
The weather does not offer direct concessions, according to Thomas Smith, a professor of geography at the London School of Economics.
“Unfortunately, efficiency estimates show that forest fires will survive in Greece until there is significant rainfall – at least until August 17,” Smith said.
“The Wildfires will last until there is significant rainfall, and the possibility of the situation will deteriorate before getting better.”