August 25, 2007
170 Fires Devastate Peloponnese Region Of Greece
"Greek emergency workers continue to find the charred bodies of people burned to death by forest fires that are raging in the south of the country. Officials raised the death toll from the fires over the past two days to 44.
Searches of burnt cars, houses and fields were still turning up the remains of those who could not escape.
The Prime Minister, Kostas Karamanlis, called the situation "an unspeakable tragedy" and the government appealed to the EU for help. Greek newspapers are calling the southern Peloponnese region a "crematorium", says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens.
The fires have been moving so fast that people have been cut off before they could escape. With emergency services overstretched, desperate residents and local officials called television and radio stations to appeal for help.
Some of the worst fires are concentrated along an 80km (50 mile) stretch on the west coast of the Peloponnese to Mani in the very south of the peninsula. But others are burning across the country.
Two new fires broke out near Athens, forcing a road between the city and its airport to be closed
A monastery and homes were evacuated as flames closed in on the capital.
Arson was suspected in several cases, with 20 new fires starting during the night, a fire department spokesman said
All top football matches were postponed on the opening weekend of the season
France responded to Greece's appeal for help, sending two water-dropping planes, which were scheduled to arrive on Saturday afternoon, AFP reported Family found
At least nine people are reported to have burnt to death in their cars as they attempted to flee the flames near the town of Zahero, west of the Peloponnese.
The Associated Press reported that a car had crashed into a fire engine, causing a traffic jam from which people could not escape as the flames advanced.
Zahero seemed to be the centre of the disaster. Fire crews said they had found at least 30 bodies in villages near the town, as they searched burned out cars and houses. "It's a tragedy," an eyewitness told Greek television. "I can see the burnt bodies of a mother holding her child in her arms. Further away there are more bodies. It's terrible."
Fire officials confirmed that a mother and her four children had perished, as had three firefighters.
A local prefect close to the scene described it as horrific.
"The situation is extremely dire... The speed with which this fire has been spreading is astonishing," said the mayor of Zahero, Pantazis Chronopoulos.
Six deaths were confirmed in the seaside town of Areopolis in the Mani region of Greece's deep south. Hotels and several villages have been evacuated, fire officials said...."
Greece suffered from multiple wildfires in late July and were aided at that time by Russian firefighting aircraft and crews. In the video below the reporter describes how the Russian crews would help and that the crews would be stationed in Greece throughout the fire season. Presumably they are on scene now.
The BBC uploaded a remarkable video of the Fires in Greece on YouTube but provided no embed ability.
Labels: 2007 fire season
