The 2021 Greece wildfires are multiple

wildfire A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of Combustibility and flammability, combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire ...

s burning in

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

since early August 2021, which have killed 3 people, injured at least 20 others and burned dozens of homes, after a historic heatwave for the country with the highest temperatures, reaching . Authorities have evacuated several villages and towns. According to

BBC News BBC News is an operational business division of the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) responsible for the gathering and broadcasting of news and current affairs in the UK and around the world. The department is the world's largest broadca ...

, Greece is experiencing the worst heatwave since 1987. These fires are the worst fires in Greece since the 2007 Greek forest fires which burnt more than double the area (270,000 hectares) of the 2021 fires (125,000 hectares). The largest wildfires are in

Attica Attica ( el, Αττική, Ancient Greek ''Attikḗ'' or , or ), or the Attic Peninsula, is a historical region that encompasses the city of Athens, the capital of Greece and its countryside. It is a peninsula projecting into the Aegean Se ...

Olympia The name Olympia may refer to: Arts and entertainment Film * ''Olympia'' (1938 film), by Leni Riefenstahl, documenting the Berlin-hosted Olympic Games * ''Olympia'' (1998 film), about a Mexican soap opera star who pursues a career as an athlet ...

Messenia Messenia or Messinia ( ; el, Μεσσηνία ) is a regional unit (''perifereiaki enotita'') in the southwestern part of the Peloponnese region, in Greece. Until the implementation of the Kallikratis plan on 1 January 2011, Messenia was a ...

, and the most destructive in northern

Euboea Evia (, ; el, Εύβοια ; grc, Εὔβοια ) or Euboia (, ) is the second-largest Greek island in area and population, after Crete. It is separated from Boeotia in mainland Greece by the narrow Euripus Strait (only at its narrowest poin ...

from which ferries have evacuated about 2000 people. 125,000 hectares of forest and arable land has been burnt so far (the worst fire season since 2007), with over 50,000 hectares burnt in northern

alone. The

World Meteorological Organization The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is a specialized agency of the United Nations responsible for promoting international cooperation on atmospheric science, climatology, hydrology and geophysics. The WMO originated from the Internati ...

connected the fires with the regional

heatwave A heat wave, or heatwave, is a period of excessively hot weather, which may be accompanied by high humidity, especially in oceanic climate countries. While definitions vary, a heat wave is usually measured relative to the usual climate in th ...

and wildfire season made worse by climate change.

Investigation of causes

As of the 8th August, 5 people have been arrested for arson in the respective areas of

Perama Perama ( el, Πέραμα) is a suburb of Piraeus. It is part of Athens urban area and belogs to the Piraeus regional unit. It lies on the southwest edge of the Aegaleo mountains, on the Saronic Gulf coast. It is 8 km northwest of Piraeus, ...

Kalamata Kalamáta ( el, Καλαμάτα ) is the second most populous city of the Peloponnese peninsula, after Patras, in southern Greece and the largest city of the homonymous administrative region. As the capital and chief port of the Messenia reg ...

, Petroupoli and Philopappou. On the 9th August, the prosecutor of Greece's Supreme Court, Vassilios I. Pliotas, called for an investigation into a possible organized arson plot on the part of a “deliberate organized criminal activity” that may have been behind the fires which torched several regions of Greece. As of the 9th of August, police has arrested 19 people in different places in Greece for attempted arson. As of the 10th of August, 3 suspected arsonists have been remanded in custody: two Greek men, one for an arson at Petroupoli and the other for an arson at Kryoneri and an

Afghan Afghan may refer to: *Something of or related to Afghanistan, a country in Southern-Central Asia *Afghans, people or citizens of Afghanistan, typically of any ethnicity ** Afghan (ethnonym), the historic term applied strictly to people of the Pas ...

woman for an arson at the

Pedion tou Areos The Pedion tou Areos or Pedion Areos ( el, Πεδίον του Άρεως or Πεδίον Άρεως, , meaning ''Field of Ares'', corresponding to the French ''Champ de Mars'' and the ancient ''Campus Martius'') is one of the largest public parks ...

. As of the 12th of August, the number of arrests made by

Hellenic Police The Hellenic Police ( el, Ελληνική Αστυνομία, ''Ellinikí Astynomía'', abbreviated ) is the national police service and one of the three security forces of the Hellenic Republic. It is a large agency with responsibilities ra ...

for arson and negligence causing these wildfires had increased to 118. Minister

Michalis Chrisochoidis Michalis Chrisochoidis (, born 31 October 1955 in Nisi, Imathia) is a Greek politician and former member of the Hellenic Parliament for the Panhellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK). He served as Minister for Citizen Protection (1999–2003, 2009� ...

said the special prosecutor was “already cooperating closely and regularly” with the fire department and the police “for the in-depth investigation of the causes of all the large fires which have broken out this year.” Commenting on another fire that had started south of Athens, the minister added, “And all this because, according to witnesses, the fire was due to the use of a flare by one or more” people. In mid August, a 14 year old boy was arrested by police after they had tracked his movements through video footage. He confessed to police of starting 9 devastating fires in the

Phthiotis Phthiotis ( el, Φθιώτιδα, ''Fthiótida'', ; ancient Greek and Katharevousa: Φθιῶτις) is one of the regional units of Greece. It is part of the administrative region of Central Greece. The capital is the city of Lamia. It is border ...

region, however police suspect him of starting a total of 14. He travelled from location to location starting these fires on his bicycle from the 5th August to the 17th August. In 2007, the

IPCC Fourth Assessment Report ''Climate Change 2007'', the Fourth Assessment Report (AR4) of the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) was published in 2007 and is the fourth in a series of reports intended to assess scientific, technical and socio ...

said that "Warmer, drier conditions will lead to more frequent and prolonged droughts, as well as to a longer fire season and increased fire risk, particularly in the Mediterranean region." The fires were some of several extreme weather events around the world in 2021.

Reactions

The Greek Prime Minister

Kyriakos Mitsotakis Kyriakos Mitsotakis ( el, Κυριάκος Μητσοτάκης, ; born 4 March 1968) is a Greek politician serving as the prime minister of Greece since 8 July 2019. A member of the New Democracy (Greece), New Democracy, he has been its presi ...

lamented the situation, underlining that Greece's priority is that of saving lives and attributed the fires to the

climate change In common usage, climate change describes global warming—the ongoing increase in global average temperature—and its effects on Earth's climate system. Climate change in a broader sense also includes previous long-term changes to E ...

. Mitsotakis also apologized on Monday, 9 August, “for any weaknesses” in containing the massive wildfires that have destroyed swathes of forest land and forced hundreds of people to evacuate numerous settlements over the past week. The Deputy Minister of Civil Protection, Nikos Hardalias, stated: “The resignations of all the government officials are in the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

's drawer. Mine is at the very top of the drawer. ..The state apparatus did what was humanly possible. But, of course, we are not satisfied with such a catastrophe. The

is shocked. We all need to apologize to the people who lost their lives and we will evaluate if we could have done something different.” The

highlighted the Greek wildfires in its press release response to the IPCC Sixth Assessment Report Working Group I report, noting the wildfires as an example of the

extreme weather Extreme weather or extreme climate events includes unexpected, unusual, severe, or unseasonal weather; weather at the extremes of the historical distribution—the range that has been seen in the past. Often, extreme events are based on a locat ...

being caused by

International assistance

The following countries offered assistance: * – 4 helicopters * – 35 firefighters and 11 vehicles * – 1 aircraft * – 40 firefighters and 2 aircraft * – 34 firefighters and 13 vehicles * – 3 airplanes * – 243 firefighters, 59 vehicles and 3 airplanes * – 216 firefighters and 44 vehicles * – 16 firefighters and 3 airplanes * – 45 firefighters, 6 trucks and firefighting equipment * – 25 firefighters and 4 vehicles * – 286 firefighters and 46 trucks * – 66 firefighters, 3 vehicles and 1

Search and Rescue Search and rescue (SAR) is the search for and provision of aid to people who are in distress or imminent danger. The general field of search and rescue includes many specialty sub-fields, typically determined by the type of terrain the search ...

team * – 254 firefighters and 23 trucks * – 2 aircraft and 2 helicopters * – 37 firefighters, 14 members of the Helicopter Unit, 3 helicopters and 13 vehicles * – 75 firefighters and 30 vehicles * – 2 aircraft * – 2 airplanes * – 3 helicopters * – 2 airplanes (EU airplanes originally sent to Turkey) * – 100 firefighters * – 1 group of firefighters and firefighting equipment * – 21 firefighters * – 1 airplane The following International Organizations offered assistance: * – 1 person at the headquarters of the General Secretariat for Civil Protection * – 20 helicopters

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greece wildfires, 2021 2021 fires in Europe

Wildfires A wildfire, forest fire, bushfire, wildland fire or rural fire is an unplanned, uncontrolled and unpredictable fire in an area of combustible vegetation. Depending on the type of vegetation present, a wildfire may be more specifically identif ...

2021 wildfires August 2021 events in Europe 2021 wildfires Wildfires in Greece 2021 disasters in Europe

Investigation of causes

Reactions

International assistance

See also

References