Massive forest fire in Greece still burning for 7th day
Source: AP
By ELENA BECATOROS
ATHENS, Greece (AP) — Firefighters and residents battled a massive forest fire on Greece’s second largest island for a seventh day Monday, fighting to save what they can from flames that have decimated vast tracts of pristine forest, destroyed homes and businesses and sent thousands fleeing.
The smoke and ash from the fire on Evia, a rugged island of forests and coves almost touching the Greek mainland, blocked out the sun, turning the sky orange as the blaze rampaged across the northern part of the island.
Evia’s fire is the most severe of dozens that have broken out across Greece in the past week, after the country was baked by its worst heat wave in three decades which sent temperatures soaring to 45 degrees Celsius (113 Fahrenheit) for days. The heat, coming amid what has already been a particularly hot summer, has turned Greece’s forests, including large areas of easily flammable pine trees, into bone-dry tinderboxes.
Other big fires have been burning forests and farmland in the southern Greek region of the Peloponnese, while a major blaze that burned through homes, businesses and forests on the northern fringes of Athens was on the wane.
Flames burn a house at Pefki village on Evia island, about 189 kilometers (118 miles) north of Athens, Greece, Sunday, Aug. 8, 2021. Pillars of billowing smoke and ash are blocking out the sun above Greece's second-largest island as a days-old wildfire devours pristine forests and triggers more evacuation alerts. (AP Photo/Petros Karadjias)
Read more: https://apnews.com/article/europe-middle-east-fires-greece-forests-f9a7b7f02a8fc069847d39acd18efe04
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