For thousands of tourists on Rhodes, the holiday on Saturday has become a nightmare. It had been burning for days in the densely wooded center of the island, and the fire brigade had the flames under control – until the already strong wind suddenly turned on Saturday afternoon and drove the flames directly to tourist strongholds and villages in the south and south-east of the island. Greek state television reported that around 8,000 people had been brought to safety by land by evening. Water police patrol boats and private boats picked up around 2,000 more from beaches, the Coast Guard said.
Late on Saturday evening, the flames reached the already evacuated village of Laerma – the first houses were on fire, as Greek media reports showed. The State Department activated a civil defense crisis team tasked with taking care of those tourists whose hotels and lodgings were evacuated.
“There have never been so many villages affected,” said a German who has lived on the island for years, the German Press Agency on Saturday evening. “Otherwise it burns towards the west coast. But this time the fire came over the mountain to the southeast.” In her village of Lachania, everyone is on their feet and waiting for their village to be evacuated. The power went out hours ago, and she’s sitting in the dark. “I packed the most important things in the car, water, food for my dog. But I’m waiting for the authorities’ instructions, it doesn’t help to drive somewhere headless.”
Escape from resorts
Meanwhile, video footage shared on Greek media and social media showed long lines of people leaving their vacation spots on foot – some panicking, others staying calm, some with their suitcases, others with nothing but their clothes. It was unclear on Saturday evening where they should be accommodated so quickly. The state broadcaster ERT reported that a ferry was on the way, on which a number of people could initially find shelter. At this time of the year, in the middle of the main tourist season, there should hardly be any free accommodation on the island itself.
Germans were also affected by the evacuations of the hotels. “There are currently around 20,000 German vacationers from tour operators on the island, only a small number are affected by the evacuations,” said a spokeswoman for the German Travel Association (DRV) of the dpa on Saturday evening. “For the evacuees, collection points are planned in the north of the island until the fires are extinguished. The top priority is to protect life and limb.” According to the DRV, tour operators want to contact their customers who are planning a trip to Rhodes in the next few days. You would then be informed whether the trip could take place.
support from other countries
Because of the forest fire on Rhodes, but also other large fires in Greece, hundreds of firefighters from Romania, Bulgaria, Poland, Slovakia and Malta have now arrived to reinforce. France, Italy, Turkey, Cyprus, Israel and Jordan are taking part in the extinguishing work with firefighting planes and helicopters, the Greek civil defense announced.
According to the meteorologists, the heat wave that has been raging in Greece since Friday will continue with small fluctuations in the coming week. A new high is expected on Wednesday with temperatures around 46 degrees in southern Greece. The fire brigade again warned of the great danger of forest fires. “We have even more difficult times ahead of us,” said a spokesman.
In the course of global warming, the risk of forest fires is increasing in many regions, as the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has established. A warmer climate can contribute to more water falling from the sky, also more often in the form of heavy rain. However, the periods without precipitation are becoming longer in some cases. And especially in areas that are already dry, the danger of periods of drought increases. Forest fires can spread faster in extremely dry vegetation.
