Greece has sent two Canadair aircrafts to assist the Albanian government in the battle against the blaze that is raging at a mountainous area near the villages of the Greek minority in the south of Albania.
The two firefighting aircrafts arrived early Friday and started dropping water in the two most dangerous fronts in the areas between the villages Vouliarati and Droviani.
The wildfire broke out on Tuesday afternoon and has been raging still Friday noon.
In the village of Grapsi, the blaze has already destroyed two houses, one church and a storehouse, while it put the life of two elderly at risk. An old church was also burned down in the village of Frastani.
Mayor Achilleas Detsikas in battle against the wildfire.
In the village Georgoutsates by Dropoli, locals tried to extinguished the fire alone.
“The Albanian government had sent only one fire truck with 3 fire fighters,” minority media Himara.gr wrote.
According to correspondent of Greek state ERT, members of the Greek minority blame “arson” as the cause of the wildfire.
The fire fighting infrastructure in Albania is considered as not sufficient.
The deployment of the Greek Canadair has been funded by the EU Civil Protection Agensy, the European Commission has said.
#Greece help to #Albania via #EUCivPro to fight #forestfires continues. EU working 24/7 to support other countries in need #solidarity
— Christos Stylianides (@StylianidesEU) August 10, 2017
Meanwhile, the wildfire has reportedly crossed the Greek-Albanian border and has been burning in a mountainous area on the Greek side. Local firefighters have been deployed to the spot.
