“The fire continues to burn without control. About 500 firefighters backed by a hundred vehicles, seven planes, and three helicopters are fighting the flames,” a spokesman for the aforementioned service told AFP.
On-site fire crews estimated that the fire front stretched for approximately 10 kilometers. This fire, which started on August 19, is causing devastation in the Evros River region, located on the border with Turkey and close to the port city of Alexandroupolis.
Last week, 19 lifeless bodies were found north of the city, and it is presumed that these people, including two children, could have been migrants.
The European Copernicus Observatory (EMS) has indicated on the social network X (formerly Twitter) that the fire has already affected some 77,000 hectares in terms of devastation.
During this summer in Greece, a series of fires have been occurring frequently, and the government attributes this situation to climate change. So far, more than 120,000 hectares have been consumed by the flames, according to estimates by the Greek National Observatory. These numbers represent three times the annual average since 2006, according to data provided by Copernicus.
The situation underscores the challenges Greece faces in its fight against forest fires this summer season and the broader implications of climate change in the region.