Percorso:ANSA > Nuova Europa > Greece > Firefighters try to stop island blaze from reaching forest

Firefighters try to stop island blaze from reaching forest

Hundreds of villagers had been evacuated

09 August, 11:26
(ANSA) - BELGRADE, AUG 9 - Firefighters tried Monday to prevent fires from reaching key communities and a thick forest that could fuel an inferno that one official said has destroyed hundreds of homes in seven days on the Greek island of Evia. If most of nearly two weeks of fires had stabilised or receded in other parts of Greece, the ones on rugged and forested Evia were the most worrying and created apocalyptic scenes. Firefighters were putting the priority on saving the villages of Kamatriades and Galatsades on Monday because "if the fire passes through there, it will end up in a thick forest that will be difficult to extinguish," firefighters told the Greek news agency ANA.

After the fire laid siege to one village after another on the north of the island, firefighters also toiled until dawn to quench flames at Monokarya in order to protect the town of Istiaia, all without the help of water-dousing aircraft, ANA reported. Thick and suffocating smoke on Monday also enveloped the coastal region of Pefki, where hundreds of villagers had been evacuated by sea, while others regrouped, an AFP reporting team said. (ANSA).

© Copyright ANSA - All rights reserved