. | . |
'Ecological disaster' feared as Greece battles forest fire By Marina RAFENBERG Athens (AFP) May 22, 2021 Hundreds of firefighters battled Greece's first major forest fire of the summer on Saturday, as experts warned of a "huge ecological disaster" in the nature conservation area near Athens. The fire, which broke out late Wednesday in the Geraneia mountains some 90 kilometres (55 miles) west of the capital, is "one of the biggest in the past 20 to 30 years, and has come early in the season," fire chief Stefanos Kolokouris told ANT1 television. He said better weather conditions allowed firefighters to bring the main front of the outbreak under control late on Friday, but there remain "several active and scattered" blazes. The ANA national news agency quoted Kolokouris as forecasting that "the situation will be completely under control by tomorrow." Government ministers were due in the Gulf of Corinth area Sunday to assess with local officials the extent of the damage and discuss financial aid. More than 270 firefighters, backed by 16 aircraft and by the army, were fighting the blazes. No injuries have been reported, but a number of houses have been damaged or destroyed and a dozen villages and hamlets evacuated. The scale of the damage, notably for farmers, will only be clear once the fire is completely under control, the civil protection agency said. But experts and associations quoted in Greek media have warned of an "ecological disaster on an immense scale". Some 54 percent of the dense and hitherto protected pine forests have been burnt, the leftist Avghi daily said. And 6.1 percent of the mountain range is part of the European Union's Natura 2000 network of nature conservation sites. Euthymios Lekkas, professor of environmental disaster management at the University of Athens, said the fires have burnt more than 55 square kilometres (21 square miles) of pine forest and other land, some of it agricultural. "It's a huge ecological disaster that needs work to avoid landslides and terrible flooding in the autumn," he told ERT public television. The civil protection agency said the blaze started near the village of Schinos next to the resort of Loutraki, apparently by someone burning vegetation in an olive grove. - Tortoises and hedgehogs - Smoke from the fire choked Athens with ash falling from the sky. Rescue associations sought Friday to help injured animals, burned or dehydrated from the fires, bringing food, water and first aid. One organisation, Caesar's Paradise, said birds, tortoises, hedgehogs and wild boar as well as cats and dogs had been found dead from the smoke and flames. The Greek NGO ANIMA said it was particularly concerned because the fires erupted "in the spring, when animals give birth to their young". "It's difficult for newborns to run or to fly with their own wings like adults," the organisation said on social media. The WWF launched a petition calling on the government to take "serious prevention measures against forest fires". Greece faces violent forest fires every summer, fanned by dry weather, strong winds and temperatures that often soar well above 30 C (86 F). These may be of natural origin, or criminal, with a view to real estate speculation, or due to negligence. In 2018, 102 people died in the coastal resort of Mati, near Athens, in Greece's worst-ever fire disaster.
Hot summers, intense burn seasons seed 'zombie' fires: study Paris (AFP) May 19, 2021 "Zombie" fires that linger under the winter snow in the forests of the Northern Hemisphere tend to re-ignite after hotter summers, according to a study on Wednesday warning that climate change may make them more common. Normally fires in Arctic regions are caused either by lightning strikes or humans but recent years have seen increasing reports of smouldering soil that sparks into flame in spring, with huge blazes in Siberia in 2020 partly attributed to this phenomenon. Called "zombie" fires b ... read more
|
|
The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2024 - Space Media Network. All websites are published in Australia and are solely subject to Australian law and governed by Fair Use principals for news reporting and research purposes. AFP, UPI and IANS news wire stories are copyright Agence France-Presse, United Press International and Indo-Asia News Service. ESA news reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. All articles labeled "by Staff Writers" include reports supplied to Space Media Network by industry news wires, PR agencies, corporate press officers and the like. Such articles are individually curated and edited by Space Media Network staff on the basis of the report's information value to our industry and professional readership. Advertising does not imply endorsement, agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by Space Media Network on any Web page published or hosted by Space Media Network. General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Statement Our advertisers use various cookies and the like to deliver the best ad banner available at one time. All network advertising suppliers have GDPR policies (Legitimate Interest) that conform with EU regulations for data collection. By using our websites you consent to cookie based advertising. If you do not agree with this then you must stop using the websites from May 25, 2018. Privacy Statement. Additional information can be found here at About Us. |