Facing the beast

It was a dilemma that some might have faced amid this week's wildfires in Kouvaras, Dervenochoria, or Megara after receiving the text message from the emergency number 112, urging them to evacuate. Should they stay or should they go?

Take Markos, who stood hesitantly at the door of his house on the outskirts of Mandra, grappling with the same uncertainty. Observing the well-maintained space around the houses in his neighborhood, he pondered that they could be saved if the owners remained to extinguish the small fires caused by flying embers. He had already cleared his own property and the neighboring grove - a melancholic thought crossed his mind, "People who love trees must now keep them at a distance." "I will stay to fight and leave if things worsen," he concluded.

And he made the most risky decision, though fortunately short-lived. Fire is a fearsome beast, fueled...