Greece hit by ‘50 percent more’ wildfires than last year

ATHENS: Greece has seen 50 percent more summer wildfires this year than in 2023, a government spokesman said on Monday.

After its earliest-ever heatwave and warmest winter on record, Greece´s summer has been marked by a series of blazes capped by a vast wildfire that devastated areas northeast of the capital Athens.

“Since May 1, firefighters have had to deal with around 4,000 fires -- a 50 percent increase on last year,” spokesman Pavlos Marinakis told reporters. Fuelled by strong winds, the blaze ravaged some 10,000 hectares, claimed the life of a woman in her 60s and sent thousands of people fleeing their homes.

Two weeks on from that massive inferno, opposition criticism of the government´s handling of these disasters, which scientists say are being worsened by climate change, continues to mount. Last Tuesday, Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis had to face protests from angry residents as he visited an area affected by the disaster to announce aid for those affected.

Marinakis defended the speed of the response, telling journalists that it took just five minutes to scramble aircraft and only two minutes more to mobilise ground resources thanks to the use of surveillance drones.

“We have more firefighters, more than 17,200 this year, more aircraft, which have gone from 61 to 90 in five years... and we have 45 drones,” the spokesman said. Twenty-eight of those drones were in the Attica region surrounding the capital, he added. In March, the Greek government ordered seven new Canadair water bombers, the first of which “should be delivered by the end of 2027”, Marinakis said.