- Wildfires continue to sweep Greece.
- The city of Istiaia is home to some of the worst fires this season.
- The firefighters continued their efforts to control the fire.
As wildfires continue to sweep the country, people in Greece wake up on Sunday, another hellish day in some areas.
“It’s only us. Our end is coming,” Giannis Kozias, the mayor of the endangered city of Istia, told the Greek broadcaster Skai.
This seaport town is located in the northern part of Euboea, the second largest island in Greece, where some of the worst fires of the season have occurred.
The mood on the island is also burning, where the aerial fire fighting only started on Sunday.
Many people complain about their fate and fight the fire that stretches for several square kilometers, sometimes turning into a wall of fire that is 7 kilometers (4.3 miles) long.
“They let us burn them,” a man told Skai, noting that the country’s firefighting fleet has so far been focused on the surrounding area of Athens.
But officials defended their actions, citing limited resources.
“We can’t be everywhere. You just have to imagine what would happen if the fire in northern Athens spread to densely populated areas,” a firefighter said.
An official told the National Broadcasting Corporation that there were reports that the situation north of Athens was stabilizing on Sunday, and firefighters reported that they had been able to put out some smaller fires.
Staff investigating the situation in northern Greece said that they have counted about 300 houses and industrial buildings destroyed in the fire, and it will take about 15 days for the area to restore power.
Water services have not yet been fully restored.
In recent days, Prime Minister Kiriakos Mizotakis has repeatedly emphasized that the first task is to save lives, not property or forests.
Greater Athens has approximately 4 million inhabitants, while Euboea has approximately 220,000 people. The areas most threatened by fire are mainly wooded areas.
The smoke from the Euboea fire has spread and has even been found in Athens.
Thousands of people have been evacuated from the island. The ferry was active again on Sunday, picking up people from the coastline because it is no longer safe to use the road.
Urges residents in other nearby villages and north of Aidipsos, the main port of Euboea, to close windows, doors and chimneys to prevent burning embers from entering their houses.
On Saturday, local officials and residents of North Ubela called for more firefighters and water drop planes through a TV news program.
The situation in the Peloponnese is slightly better, south of Megalopolis town is burning, and another fire in the western part of the peninsula is moving inland in the wooded Arcadia area near Olympia.
