UK sends firefighters to Greece to help fight bushfires | Greece

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British firefighters will be sent to Greece this weekend to give their support in the battle against the wildfires that have spiraled out of control over the past few days.

Teams from Merseyside, Lancashire, South Wales, London and West Midlands fire services are due to fly to Athens this weekend, while France said it would provide three more planes and 80 firefighters to join the hundreds already sent.

More than 400 forest fires have broken out across Greece in the past 24 hours, with the island of Evia and parts of the Peloponnese region badly affected.

‘Greece is on fire’: Thousands flee Athens suburb as wildfires spread – VIDEO

Home Minister Priti Patel, who visited Greece earlier this week, said she had asked the National Fire Chiefs Council (NFCC) to deploy specialists who will join the frantic response to the country’s worst bushfire in three decades, which has claimed the life of a volunteer firefighter. At least 20 people were injured.

Patel said in a tweet on Saturday evening: “We are sending a team of experienced firefighters to support the Greek firefighters currently battling the wildfires. When I visited my Greek counterparts earlier this week, I saw the devastating impact of the fires. The UK stands with you.”

We are sending a team of experienced firefighters to support the Greek firefighters who are currently battling wildfires.

When I visited my Greek counterparts earlier this week, I saw the devastating impact of the fires.

The UK stands with you

— Priti Patel (@ritpritipatel) August 7, 2021

Mark Hardingham, President of the NFCC, said: “The UK Fire and Rescue Service will be providing support to our colleagues in Greece, along with their communities in need of assistance during these devastating bushfires.

“The NFCC’s National Resilience function is there to deploy both in the UK and abroad – and the team is highly skilled in responding to extreme events like this.

“We can provide the professional and technical skills of our fiery family in Greece at the time when assistance is needed; providing assistance is inherent in the professional nature of the FRS staff.”

French President Emmanuel Macron wrote on Twitter on Saturday: “France stands with Greece, which is badly suffering from catastrophic fires. After discussion with the Prime Minister [Kyriakos Mitsotakis]3 Kinders and 80 French firefighters and rescue workers have been deployed to Greece [to assist] with urgent measures. Solidarity, like Europeans, always.

A Chinook helicopter extinguishes a massive fire in Malakasa, near Athens, on Saturday. Photo: Alexander Beltis/EPA

A large fire engulfs the northern suburbs of Athens, initially thought to be under control but widened again late Thursday

But the already choppy winds that fanned the flames in rapidly changing directions are expected to intensify, meaning there is a significant threat still that the fire will fester again.

By Saturday evening, fires raged uncontrollably in Evia, the island east of Athens, as villagers ordered to evacuate were asking for planes to airlift them from communities surrounded by flames. Local mayors echoed the concerns of the stricken residents, criticizing the authorities for the insufficient help they received in the face of the blazing winds across the island.

“There is no village that has not been burned in our municipality,” Giorgos Tsaburnioti, mayor of Mantodi in the fire-hit north of the island, told SKAI TV. “More than 400,000 pieces of forest have been reduced to ash. For five days I have been screaming, constantly asking for help, and the help we received on the ground was not enough, nor, of course, the help by air.

To the south in the Peloponnese, fires that were previously under control are raging throughout the Elia region as residents have also been urged to evacuate. The flames were ever closer to the ancient site of Olympia, while villagers in Numuta were reportedly desperate to remove firewood and chop down trees in an attempt to save their belongings from being burned. Firefighters were also battling fire fronts in areas across Arcadia.

On the outskirts of Athens, where fires appear to have been extinguished north of the capital, residents who fled Hell earlier in the week have been allowed to return to their devastated homes.

The government has pledged to reforest the forests destroyed by the fires, and is placing the victims in hotels.

The unprecedented temperatures that have plagued Greece, in a prolonged heat wave that began 11 days ago, eased on Friday, but are set to rise again early next week.

More than 800 firefighters, including support crews from Cyprus, France and Israel, are fighting the blaze north of Athens, with the help of the army and water-dropping planes.

“We cannot be complacent under any circumstances,” Deputy Civil Protection Minister Nikos Hardalias said during an emergency briefing. “We are fighting a very big battle.”

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