Raging wildfires in Greece show climate change effects

August 11, 2021

Greece is experiencing its worst heatwave since 1987, resulting in wildfires causing devastating destruction throughout Greece over the past week, further fuelled by strong winds and parched vegetation. The current heatwave has pushed temperatures to 45C in Greece and parts of southern Italy. Amid a record heat wave, wildfires are also raging in Turkey, Lebanon and Italy. In Turkey, more than 500 square miles of coastal forest have been torched, and eight people have been killed. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated.

This is yet another example of the effects that climate change is having, climate scientists have warned that some effects are “irreversible”. Temperatures have now risen by about 1.1C since the period 1850 to 1900.

Richard Allan, a Professor of Climate Science at University of Reading, and an IPCC lead Author, said each fraction of a degree of warming was crucial. “You are promoting moderate extreme weather events to the premier league of extreme events,” he said.

In recent days, over 500 fires have destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of forests and hundreds of homes. Forcing the evacuation of dozens of villages and thousands of people and causing public anger at delays in government response.

Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Prime Minister of Greece, went on television late on Monday to make a public apology, “I fully understand the pain of our fellow citizens who saw their homes or property burned,” he said. “Any failures will be identified. And responsibility will be assigned wherever necessary.”

He also approved a 500 million euro aid budget for the island of Evia and the Attica region around Athens, which have been worst affected by the forest fires.

More than 850 firefighters are being assisted by at least a dozen helicopters. A volunteer firefighter has died, and two other firefighters were in intensive care with severe burns.

The flames have killed three in Greece and several people have been injured, some critically. Sixteen people have been arrested on suspicion of arson or negligent arson, the police said.

Sentinel-2 satellite imagery showed swaths of forest scorched by the wildfires in Attica, Evia and the Peloponnese, with the Athens National Observatory estimating that about 65,000 hectares (approximately 160,600 acres) had been burned in total by August 8.

Much of the attention was focused on the following Tuesday on keeping the fire out of Evia’s northern hub of Istiaia, where 7,000 residents had yet to evacuate. Many mayors around the country have complained of a serious lack of aerial support in fighting the fires, despite government assurances of having set aside ample resources. The Evia force includes hundreds of firefighters from Romania, Serbia and Ukraine. They were reinforced on Tuesday with units from Cyprus, Slovakia and Poland, the civil protection authority said.

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