Wildfires have raged on Rhodes for five days.
Holidayed on the Greek island of Rhodes Olli Haapio and his family had to leave the hotel on Saturday because of wildfires. The family of five was staying in the village of Kiotari on the way to Aurinkomatki.
The family had to leave in the afternoon because wildfires were approaching the hotel. Haapio tells STT by phone that the fire was only a few hundred meters away from the hotel on Saturday.
According to him, another hotel located a few hundred meters away from their hotel was damaged in the fire.
– When we drove past the hotel, we saw that part of the hotel had been destroyed, said Haapio.
About 30,000 people have had to move to safety from the wildfires that raged for several days in Ródos. The travel agency Tui Finland and Aurinkomatkoi told STT on Saturday that around 150 Finns have been evacuated from the wildfires.
Food and mattresses at the basketball hall
Haapio’s family got from Kiotar to a nearby village with local rides. From there, they continued on the Aurinkomatkat bus, which was supposed to take them to the nearby village of Lindos. It turned out that Lindos is not safe, so they were taken to Faliraki, about 30 kilometers away. There they ended up in a basketball hall.
According to Haapio, water, food, mattresses and activities for the children had been arranged for the basketball hall.
– At the basketball hall, everything was organized as well as you can imagine in a crisis situation, said Haapio.
Late in the evening, the local people told that the family can stay in a local hotel for the night. According to Haapio, when they got a hotel room, the tour operator got a message saying that they couldn’t arrange accommodation.
According to Haapio, there is no smell of smoke in Faliraki. There have been power outages in the city, but electricity was restored on Saturday evening.
“Everyone has had a common spirit”
According to Haapio, the atmosphere was calm on Saturday, and there was no panic or chaos.
– Everyone has had a common spirit that yes, this will be taken care of.
Instead, there have been problems with the information flow.
– At our own hotel, no one really knew anything. From time to time there are some danger bulletins from the authorities, but they don’t really say anything either. Aurinkomatkat has sent maybe five text messages, but they are old information or very contradictory, said Haapio.
Haapio hopes that they will be able to return to their own hotel in Kiotari on Monday at the latest. According to him, their hotel in Kiotar is known to have been spared from damage.