Raging forest fires leave Greece responsible for climate change

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KRYONERI, Greece Diomataris Glakousakis watched in horror as burning flames engulf a forest near his house.

“It’s a punishment,” said Glakousakis, 53, a farmer in the suburban town of Kryoneri, just outside the Greek capital, Athens. “It’s man’s fault.”

Glakousakis said he had never experienced anything like this before.

Sweaty and exhausted from a long night, Glakousakis had defied mandatory evacuation orders alongside a dozen other men to stay and protect their homes using olive branches, buckets of water and domestic fire extinguishers.

Next to the Glakousakis field, two priests stood on the roof of a monastery desperately spraying garden hoses around the perimeter of the building.

“We didn’t have any help from anyone,” Glakousakis said. “Only God has helped us. Only God.”

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Raging forest fires ravaged parts of Greece for six consecutive days, forcing thousands to flee as the fires threatened entire towns and burned down homes, shops and vast swathes of land in their path.

An unprecedented heat wave, the worst Greece has seen in three decades, sent temperatures soaring over the past week as firefighters worked tirelessly to put out the uncontrollable flames.

Greece has also deployed the military to fight the fires, and several countries, including France, Egypt, Switzerland and Spain, have sent aid.

Image: Forest fire in Gouves, Greece (Angelos Tzortzinis / AFP – Getty Images)

For the third day in a row, thousands of people were evacuated on Sunday from the large forested Greek island of Evia, just east of Athens. Residents and tourists alike watched from the ferry in terror as the flames light up the sky a bright, fiery red.

More than 570 firefighters were working to contain the blaze, authorities said.

The fires that threatened Athens’ northern suburbs have died down, but their ferocity has left a trail of destruction that residents fear will take years to recover.

“A 100, 200-year-old forest was lost in one night,” Glakousakis said. “It will take years to grow back. It’s sad.”

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The Kryoneri Volunteer Fire Chief said crews were “surrounded” by flames and struggled to keep up with containment efforts even as planes and helicopters circled to drop water on the blaze.

With firefighters overwhelmed, armies of volunteer motorcycles rushed amid the outbreaks in the northern Athens suburbs, often arriving with buckets of water before the fire trucks could be redirected.

The Associated Press reported that a volunteer firefighter was killed in Athens on Friday after sustaining a head injury from a falling utility pole, while at least 20 people have been treated in hospitals since the start of the fires.

Authorities are investigating the causes of the fires. Three people were arrested in different areas on Friday on suspicion of starting fires, according to the AP.

Image: Forest fire in Afidnes, Greece (Louisa Gouliamaki / AFP – Getty Images)

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis on Saturday expressed his “deep sadness” at the death of the firefighter.

“When this nightmarish summer is over, we will turn our full attention to repairing the damage as quickly as possible and restoring our natural environment,” Mitsotakis said.

Mitsotakis blamed climate change for the devastating fires last week, urging those with reservations to “come and see the intensity of the phenomena.”

Greek and European officials have blamed climate change for the large number of fires that have ravaged southern Europe in recent days, from Italy to the Balkans, Greece and Turkey.

In the United States, the Dixie fire in northern California on Friday became the largest fire in the country and the third in state history.

For Glakousakis, climate change is clearly to blame.

“We need to think about the legacy we leave for our children,” he said. “It was passed on to us. What will we give? Scorched earth? How will they live?”

Molly Hunter and Tony Hemmings reported from Kryoneri, and Rhea Mogul reported from London.

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