A major wildfire in eastern Crete, which continues to rage despite the best efforts of firefighting forces, prompted the evacuation of over 1,500 residents and tourists, local media reported on Thursday.
The fire broke out in the Lasithi prefecture of the city of Ierapetra early Wednesday and is still spreading and raging on three fronts, with strong winds complicating efforts to contain it, public broadcaster ERT reported.
Speaking with the broadcaster, Ioannis Androulakis, the deputy governor of Lasithi, said that the situation remains dire.
“We don’t know how many houses in the area have been burned so far,” he said, adding that the fire has cut off electricity and mobile signals.
The fire department said 230 firefighters backed up by 10 water-dropping aircraft were battling the flames, which have burned through forest and farmland in Crete’s Ierapetra area on the island’s southern coast.
Two people were evacuated by boat overnight, while six private boats were on standby in case further evacuations by sea became necessary, the coast guard said.
Homes were reported damaged as flames swept through hillside forests, fanned by strong winds.
“It’s a very difficult situation. The fire is very hard to contain. Right now, they cannot contain it,” Nektarios Papadakis, a civil protection official at the regional authority, told The Associated Press overnight.
“The tourists who were moved out are all okay. They have been taken to an indoor basketball arena and hotels in other regions of the island,” he said.
The Fire Service and a civil protection agency issued mobile phone alerts for the evacuations and appealed to residents not to return to try to save their property.
As fires crested ridgelines and edged toward residential areas, the blaze sent clouds of ash into the night sky, illuminated by the headlights of emergency vehicles and water trucks that lined the coastal road near the resorts of Ferma and Achlia on the southeast of Crete.
Several residents were treated for breathing difficulties, officials said, but there were no immediate reports of serious injuries.
Crete is one of Greece’s most popular destinations for both foreign and domestic tourists.
The risk of wildfires remained very high across Crete and parts of southern Greece on Thursday, according to a daily bulletin issued by the Fire Service.
Wildfires are frequent in the country during its hot, dry summers, and the fire department has already tackled dozens across Greece so far this year.
In 2018, a massive fire swept through the seaside town of Mati, east of Athens, trapping people in their homes and on roads as they tried to flee.
More than 100 died, including some who drowned while trying to swim away from the flames.
