European Union launches fire extinguishing operation, wildfires raging in Greece and Italy | Wildfire

The scale of the devastating damage caused by the wildfires in Greece and Italy in a week is being evaluated, as the European Union has carried out one of the largest fire-fighting operations in history. Smoke from forest fires in Siberia reaches the Arctic.

As UN experts said on Monday Global warming is developing faster than people have feared, and it is “clear” that humans are to be blamed. Firefighters and local residents fought against each other. The fire on the island of Evia, East of Athens, for the seventh consecutive day.

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis apologized for failing to resolve the fire in a televised speech to the country. He said that the burned areas will be reforested and more fire-resistant trees will be planted, and compensation will be paid from the 500 million euro emergency relief fund.

Mizotakis said that there were 586 fires in “every corner of Greece” in the past week, and the damage caused by them “deepened the hearts of all of us”. He praised the professionalism of emergency services, but admitted that he had “misjudgment” and said: “I personally want to apologize for any weaknesses that arise.”

So far, more than 2,600 people have been evacuated from Evia, the country’s second largest island, and the elderly and infirm on board were forced to stay overnight on Sunday, taking refuge on the ferry or sleeping on sun loungers on the beach.

Greek media reported that many previously extinguished fires have reignited in Evia and are rapidly spreading to more villages and the town of Istaya with a population of 7,000.

Wildfires ravage large areas of southern Europe, which has experienced the most extreme heat wave in three decades. Twelve people were killed in Greece, Turkey and Italy and many others were injured. In the past few weeks, there have also been fires in Siberia in northern Russia.

A Russian weather monitor said on Monday that the forest fires raging in Siberia were worsening because NASA’s satellite images showed smoke from burning forests, driving 1,850 miles (3,000 kilometers) to the North Pole, calling them “recorded” For the first time in its history”.

The weather monitoring agency Rosgidromet said that Yakutia is the largest and coldest region in Russia, located above permafrost, and nearly 3.4 million hectares of land are burning. The Russian Forest Service stated that this year’s fire has burned more than 14 million hectares of land, which is the second worst fire season since the turn of the century.

Greece has experienced continuous heat waves in the summer, with temperatures as high as 45 degrees Celsius, which is an unprecedented long period. The respite after the temperature drops over the weekend is short-lived, and forecasters predict that the country will resume the heat wave on Monday and the wind will also increase.

On Monday, with the support of reinforcements from 22 countries, firefighters were working to extinguish the reignited fires in southern Peloponnese, eastern Mani and Crete. Officials in the capital Athens began to assess the damage. .

It is estimated that at least 300 houses were destroyed in the fire, and the fire also destroyed countless businesses, farms and woodlands. In Evia, more than 50,000 hectares of pine forests burned in the fire, and the destruction of the Peloponnese Peninsula was described as immeasurable.

The Greek firefighting force is clearly overwhelmed, prompting more than two dozen countries to provide help. France, Cyprus, Sweden, Spain, Croatia, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Romania have sent 9 planes, nearly 1,000 firefighters and 200 cars to Greece, and Germany, Poland, Austria and Slovakia provided further assistance over the weekend.

European Union countries have sent 14 firefighting aircraft and 1,300 rescuers to help extinguish the devastating fire in the Mediterranean.

“As multiple fires affect multiple countries at the same time, we are mobilizing one of the largest joint firefighting operations in Europe’s history,” said Janez Lenarčič, European Commissioner for Crisis Management. Britain announced on Saturday that it will also send firefighters to help Greece deal with the fire.

In Athens, the center-right government of Mizotakis was criticized by local officials and local people for its sometimes chaotic response. The mayors of Evia criticized the lack of help provided by the authorities.

“We kept shouting, but they didn’t listen,” Mantoudi deputy mayor Giorgos Stamoulos told Greek TV on Monday. “All in all, our municipality occupies 5,840 hectares, of which 4,500 hectares have been burned down. About 1,000 houses have been burned down. Where [the government] You want to lock up all these people who don’t have a home? “

As the fire approached, Greek islanders in remote communities requested airlift to evacuate. Others were photographed desperately trying to save their property with garden hoses and buckets.

Three years after a fire in the seaside resort of Marti killed 202 people, the government puts public safety first, with almost no casualties, but hospitalizations and injuries are becoming more common. Four volunteer firefighters were severely burned and two of them are said to be in critical condition.

exist ItalyOn Monday, the Civil Defense Department warned that as temperatures in parts of the country reach 45 degrees Celsius, more fires will occur. Since June 15th, firefighters have handled 44,442 wildfires in Italy, compared with 26,158 last summer, most of which occurred in Sicily, followed by Puglia, Calabria and Sardinia.

The worst fire occurred in southern Calabria, where two people were reported dead. On Sunday, nearly 10 hectares of pine forests in the national park near Mount Vesuvius in Campania were destroyed by fire, while in Molise, hotels and holiday houses in the Lodi beach resort of Campomarino were evacuated.