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Corinth wildfire buns down over 4,000 ha dense pine forest protected by NATURA 2000

Two more settlements west of Megara were evacuated on Friday noon as the forest wildfire kept burning for the second day and the winds pushed it to the East. Residents of Papagianneika and Kalkani were ordered to leave their homes as preventive measure while the fire was some 7 km away.

The people left their homes in their own cars, Fire Service spokesperson Vassilis Vathrokogiannis told media.

He added that besides the large fire further in the West, firefighting efforts are focused on controlling the rekindling of several pockets of fire west and northwest of the town of Megara.

The fire started in Schinos, in the Loutraki area of Corinth prefecture on Wednesday night, when allegedly a 90- or 80-year-old man started to burn dry branches, so the Development Minister. It quickly went out of control due to the strong winds blowing at that time.

Strong winds weakened only Friday noon.

Active fires in the area, Friday noon, via SENTINEL-2

So far, the blaze burned down over 4,000 hectares of dense pine forest on the Gerania Mountains, protected by NATURA 2000. The losso of wildlife is immeasurable.

via KorithnosTV.

Dozens of houses, reportedly mostly summer houses, were burned down to ashes.

Around ten settlements were evacuated and many locals preferred to stay in the area and sleep in their cars as they told media.

A total of 278 firefighters from different parts of Greece were deployed with 89 firetrucks in the area, assisted by 10 rough terrain groups of the Greek Army, some 18 water-dropping aircraft and 3 helicopters, and water trucks from municipalities.

Stephanos Kolokouris, Chief of Fire Service Stefanos Koulouris said the wildfire will be contained by nightfall Friday.

He added that besides the strong winds that blew all day Thursday, the firefighters were impeded by the absence of buffer zones in the area.
Head of Civil Protection Nikos Hardalia said that the main concern was the protection of human life.
He claimed that  the state mechanism was called to deal with an “extremely difficult fire at a time, outside the basic fire period. “We are unlucky, because for the past 15 years and based on European planning, air leases have been growing since May 25,” he said.

Interesting is, however, that everybody knows the firefighting season in Greece begins on May 1 as it was also posted on the Fire Service and the Civil Protection websites.

Alepochori beach on Thursday night: hardly any Greek TV had Breaking News; not even the state broadcaster that was busy with Eurovision Live.

What is also interesting is that mainstream media covering the huge wildfire on the Gerania Mountains are trying to downplay the disaster and divert the public’s opinion to the fact that no human life was lost.

As if thousands of pine trees and wildlife belong to the biodiversity system of another planet.

As for the loss of properties and agricultural land, a cynical journo at Skai TV gave a lecture to a local connected live to the station saying that “we make insurance policy for our houses.” (*rolling eyes*).

Side note: A local media reported of the government plan to give permission for the installation of 200-300 wind turbines on several areas of the Gerania mountains.

The news was revealed by the Loutraki Hiking Association in a letter incl. the map above to local Korinthos TV. The Association said that many local residents are against the plan to turn the Gerania Mountains into an industrial zone of power production.

Τhe plan to install wind farms on Gerania was first designed in 2011/2012.

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5 comments

  1. Ernie Bellefeuille

    Please take me off your list.

  2. Seija Hokkanen

    Why don’t you tell about the animal victims!!! ???? People left their houses, jumped into cars and drove away????? And left their dogs In chains, without a chanche To escape!!??? They burned alive!!!! Like horses!!!! Like sheeps, turtles, birds, hedgehodges!!!!! “Fortunately no victims”????!!!!!! I have watched For days the horrible photos of dead animals In social media!!! What kind of people leave their animals alone To be Burn alive and run away????? Could you make a story of cruelty of greeks ONCE????? Greece IS More than”humans”too!!!! Though it is seen To be only about material and money, money, money 😡!!