Firefighters battle the raging flames in Greece. photo by Sotiris Dimitropoulos
Wildfires burned down parts of Greece in the past month destroying agriculture and homes in the process.
With its beautiful beaches and delicious food, many people view Greece as a wonderful place to vacation or honeymoon. However, the popular destination was recently devastated by terrible wildfires. On Wednesday, August 9, fires consumed Greece in what is now their latest tragedy.
According to the New York Times, in the past month, over 198,000 acres of land have burned down throughout the Evros Region. Many residents who live in the settlement of Agia Paraskevi had to be evacuated, and many homes in this settlement later burned down. These events have caused Greece’s firefighters to feel overwhelmed due to the lack of resources they need.
In more devastating news, 18 bodies were found in the forest, and two of the bodies were children. Police are still attempting to identify the bodies, but so far they suspect that the bodies found were migrants due to the fact that they were found along the border of Turkey and Greece.
This year, Greece has been experiencing terrible heat waves due to climate change. These heat waves, along with winds and flammable vegetation, are what caused the fires in Greece to begin. Agia Paraskevi is not the only settlement that was affected by the heat. Many more parts of the country are experiencing similar climate change problems, especially along the Mediterranean coastline.
Hundreds of firefighters from all over Europe came together to help Greece contain the fires. Approximately 440 of those firefighters were from European Union Forces. Hundreds of aircrafts were also deployed to help put out the fires faster. Programs like the bloc and rescEU offered assistance to the country of Greece when the fires began.
The bloc, a program that allows E.U. nations to offer assistance to other countries in need, was created over two decades ago. The rescEU is an addition to the bloc that makes response involuntary – if a member of the E.U. requests assistance, the rescEU force is required to respond. The resEU’s budget this season was 23 million euros, or $25 million. This budget includes specialized aircrafts and firefighters which were all deployed to Greece, Portugal, and France.
The creation of the E.U. force foreshadows the possibility of a more tragic future where cooler and wetter parts of Europe will be more likely to experience southern-style wildfires. For now, however, everyone is thankful that the Greece fires have finally died down. Once life gets back to normal in Greece, residents and travelers will be able to take in the beautiful scenery again without having to worry about the smoke and devastating flames.
