In Greece, temperatures of over 40 degrees are expected for the next week, which will complicate the fire situation. The large fire in Yosemite National Park in California, USA is feared to be just the beginning of wildfires.
This week, wildfires have been experienced in Europe and North America, due to which thousands of people have been evacuated.
Wildfires have been raging in a large area in California’s Yosemite National Park. In Greece, on the other hand, there have been several fires in different parts of the country.
In recent years, huge and fast-moving wildfires have spread in California and other parts of the western United States. The reasons for the fires are, among other things, years of drought, which has been affected by climate change.
According to experts, the fires in Greece are also related to the effects of climate change.
A heat period of over 40 degrees began in Greece
In Greece, from the village of Vatera on the island of Lesbos, hundreds of tourists and locals have been evacuated from the path of wildfires over the weekend. The fire started on Saturday. According to the local television channel, at least four houses were destroyed and several shops, hotels and beach bars were damaged.
It is feared that the situation will worsen, as a heat period of over 40 degrees began in the area, which is estimated to last for 10 days.
Hundreds of rescuers and several airplanes and helicopters are fighting the fire.
A fire has also raged in the Dadia National Park area of Evros for four days, under which approximately 500 hectares of forest have been left. The governor of the region Dimitris Petrovits told the local media that in addition to the evacuations of Dadia village, the authorities have focused on rescuing injured animals. It is not known how many people have been evacuated from the village.
There have also been fires raging in the area of the mountains near Athens this week, due to which hundreds of residents had to be evacuated.
Fire spreading ‘explosively’ in California
A large wildfire that started in California near Yosemite National Park on Friday spread over a large area in less than a day. There have already been smaller fires in the area earlier this month.
Local authorities have called the fire “explosive”. The fire, which spread from an area of a few hundred hectares, already raged on an area of about 4,800 hectares on Saturday. A state of emergency has been declared for the area.
More than 500 rescuers are fighting the fire. In addition, they are trying to extinguish it with the help of water-dropping helicopters. The fire known as the Oak Fire is from the United States Los Angeles Times (You’re moving to another service) -magazine, this year’s biggest wildfires in California.
The newspaper writes that the fire has destroyed ten structures and threatens 2,000. A mandatory evacuation order has been issued for some nearby areas. More than 6,000 people have been evacuated.
According to the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection, the fire was still not under control as of Saturday evening local time. According to estimates, it may take a week to get the fire under control. The department describes the fire as “extremely violent”.
Hot and dry air and drought promote the spread of fire. It is feared that the series of wildfires in the area is just at the beginning.