ATHENA: Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said on Thursday that great-burning forest fires throughout the country for more than a week was the biggest ecological disaster seen by Greece in decades.
The fire broke when the country was baked during the most intense and protracted heat waves in about 30 years.
Hundreds of forest fires broke out throughout the country, stretching the ability of Greek firefight with limits and leading the government to appeal from abroad.
Hundreds of firefighters, along with planes, helicopters and vehicles, arrived from European countries and the Middle East to help.
“We managed to save lives, but we lost forests and property,” Mitsotakis said, describing forest fires as “the biggest ecological disaster of the past few decades.” Mitsotakis, spoke during a press conference in Athens, the first since the fire broke, said the authorities faced around 100 active blazes every day.
On Thursday, the situation was much better, with most of the big forest fires in Wane.
But the prime minister warns more danger from the Blazes still exists.
“We are in mid-August and obviously we will experience difficult days in front of us” until the main season where the fire broke out.
The biggest fire broke out on Greece’s second largest evia island on August 3 and was still burning on Thursday, after destroying most of the island countries.
More than 50,900 hectares are damaged in northern Evia, according to mapping from the EU emergency management services of the European Union.
The entire pine forest mountains have been reduced to naked, stumps blackened, while olive tree plantations and figs and vineyards are also destroyed.