Europe Torched by Wildfires

Aug. 25, 2000 -- Vicious wildfires are threatening holiday resorts all across the south of Europe.

Greece has declared a state of emergency in Arcadia province in the south, where 10 fires are raging, and Epirius in the north.

Greek Interior Minister Vasso Papandreou, speaking after a late-night cabinet meeting, described the situation in the two provinces as “very serious.”

Greece had requested foreign help to fight the fires, but it had not been forthcoming.

There were 78 forest fires raging all across Greece, the government said. So far this year, more than 300-square kilometers of forest has been lost to the flames.

In Aracdia, six firemen have been injured and the major hydroelectric plant at Megalopolis, where a fire has been raging out of control for five days, is under threat.

Further north, on the border to Albania, an elderly couple, Christofores Kyritsis, 80, and his wife Maria, 78, died trying to flee a fire which engulfed their home. They were found in their yard. Six others in the small village of Agia Marina, through which the fire swept, are missing.

At Laurion, close to Athens, 300 children in a holiday camp have been evacuated as flames headed towards them. The islands of Naxos and Chios, both popular holiday destinations, are also being ravaged by fires.

France is fighting a fire on the island of Corsica which has been burning since Tuesday and has swallowed up 5-square kilometers of forest.

Holiday Hotspots Getting Hurt

In Italy, the road linking the popular holiday destinations Sorrento and Positano on the Amalfi coast south of Naples has been closed. Planes have been brought in to fight several fires raging in the hills. There are more fires threatening the Adriatic coast near Sestri Levante. Italy has lost 66 square kilometers of forest to fire so far this year. Sardinia also is affected.

The fires are erupting in the midst of a heat wave with 100-degree temperatures. The relentless heat wave has had the region all the way to the Middle East in its grip with little respite since May. It follows a winter in which rainfall was far less than average. Strong, hot winds are fanning the flames.

When short respite comes, it is in the forms of summer lightening storms which ignite more fires. They result in little rain, but where they do it tends to be a tropical downpour which the dry ground cannot absorb, causing flash floods. There is little hope of a fundamental change in the weather before October.

Deadly Results

In Croatia, the charred body of a 16-year-old was found after he went too close to a forest fire near Split. There are 20 fires raging, and 90 square kilometers of forest have been lost in August alone, bringing the total this year up to 503 square kilometers.

Most of the blazes are close to the holiday resorts on the Adriatic coast. One is threatening the region near Dubrovnik. The 12,000 inhabitants of Metkovic, 30 miles north along the coast, have been told to be ready for evacuation. The port of also Rijeka is threatened.

Serbia also is fighting fires across the country. The Yugoslav Army, using helicopters, has been called in to help fight a three-day blaze in the mountains near Nis. Another major fire is on the border to Kosovo, sweeping south towards Dabinovac village. The Kosovo capital Pristina was without water after a storm knocked out a pump.

Bulgaria is one of the worst-hit regions. The government there reports 69 fires breaking out in the past 24 hours alone, with 26 still burning. Seven people have died since the fires began three months ago.