Wildfire

The combination of unseasonably warm temperatures, low rainfall and strong winds has prompted authorities to declare wildfire season open as of Monday, April 15, the earliest Greece has ever started implementing fire prevention measures.

The European Investment Bank (EIB) has announced it will lend Greece €220 million to help protect it against floods and wildfires, which are occurring more often as a result of climate change, as well as against other natural disasters such as earthquakes.

The trial regarding the response to the deadly fire that ripped through the East Attica suburb of Mati in July 2018, which killed more than 100 people and left dozens injured, will finally reach its conclusion on April 29 at the first instance.

As officials brace for another wildfire station, one that started much earlier than usual due to unseasonably warm weather, a priority is to protect homes and property.

The 2023 wildfire season in Europe was among the worst this century, according to a European Commission report published on Wednesday.

Last year, more than half a million (504,002) hectares, an area twice the size of Luxembourg, was scorched by wildfires, according to a report on Forest Fires in Europe, Middle East and North Africa 2023 by the Commission's Joint Research Centre.

The fire season may formally begin on May 1, but forest fires started at the end of March this year, causing particular concern. Indicatively, a fire broke out on Mt Taygetos, southern Greece on March 26, followed by another in the Pieria range in the north, at an altitude where they are not a common occurrence, while 250 hectares burnt in Ierapetra on Crete last weekend.

A forest fire broke out in the Elafos area of Larissa, central Greece, with 70 fires reported nationwide in the past 24 hours, according to the fire brigade. 

In Larissa, 42 firefighters, supported by two foot patrol teams, 14 vehicles, and aircraft, are battling the blaze. 

Of the nationwide fires, 57 were swiftly contained, while 13 remain active. 

Authorities across the country remain on alert after 71 wildfires were reported nationwide in the space of just 12 hours on Saturday.

The biggest of the fires, on Crete, forced dozens to flee their homes.

A man was being treated for burns and breathing problems in a hospital in Crete as a wildfire raged out of control in the eastern part o the island on Saturday.

With wildfires already breaking out in Greece, Derek Gatopoulos, a correspondent for the Associated Press who has been covering news in Greece for more than 25 years, joins Thanos Davelis to look at how Greece is looking to overhaul its wildfire response in preparation for this summer's wildfire season.