Water bombers take to the skies as Greece battles wildfires

• Water-bombing aircraft and about 450 firefighters are battling wildfires in Greece after winds eased, with fires burning in areas west of Athens and new evacuations ordered.
• Five people, including two helicopter crew members and three firefighters, have died fighting the fires; Bell helicopters involved in the crash are grounded pending investigation.
• Over 12,000 hectares have burned amid high temperatures and dry conditions, with authorities warning of extremely difficult days ahead and a very high fire danger level in Attica and Boeotia.

KRYO PIGADI, Greece – Water-bombing aircraft resumed firefighting operations in Greece on Aug 3 after winds eased, joining hundreds of firefighters battling multiple blazes that have already claimed five lives, the fire department told AFP.

Greece, which had largely avoided major blazes at the start of the summer unlike France and Spain, is now grappling with a second consecutive week of wildfires that have scorched thousands of hectares of forest, scrubland and farmland.

“Today, we are facing three difficult fronts: Psatha, Kryo Pigadi and Kandyli,” a department spokesperson told AFP, referring to areas located between 45km and 70km west of Athens.

Lighter winds allowed aerial firefighting operations to resume early on Aug 3, with nine water-bombing aircraft joining nine helicopters and about 450 firefighters battling the flames in the regions of Boeotia and Attica, according to the fire service.

In recent days, wind gusts reaching 80kmh had grounded aircraft for safety reasons, hampering firefighting efforts.

The authorities ordered new evacuations on the morning of Aug 3 in villages near Kandyli, about 45km west of the capital, Greece’s Civil Protection agency said.

“The battle against the fires is uneven,” Deputy Minister for Civil Protection and Climate Crisis Kostas Katsafados told public broadcaster ERTNews on Aug 3.

The wildfires have claimed five lives since last week.

On Aug 2, two Bell helicopters collided while conducting firefighting operations near Psatha. A Danish pilot and a Greek co-pilot aboard one of the aircraft were killed.

Their deaths followed those of three firefighters who perished last week while battling separate wildfires in Crete and the Peloponnese.

‘Extremely difficult’

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned that Greece faced “extremely difficult” days ahead, as high temperatures and dry conditions continued to fuel the blazes.

More than 12,000ha of forest and agricultural land have burned over the past week, according to analyses from the European Union’s Copernicus Earth observation programme cited by the local media.

Greece, like much of the Mediterranean region, has experienced increasingly frequent and intense wildfires that scientists link to climate change.

The victims include three firefighters killed in the line of duty last week and the two crew members who died in the Aug 2 helicopter collision near Psatha.

According to the local media, the victims of the crash were a Dane and a Greek, while the British pilot and Greek co-pilot of the other aircraft were injured and taken to hospital.

Pending the outcome of an official investigation, all Bell helicopters deployed to the firefighting operation have been grounded, public broadcaster ERT reported.

The helicopters were leased from Australia’s McDermott Aviation as part of a fleet of 15 aircraft. The company said it has supported operations in Greece for the past seven years.

Police have arrested two employees of an electricity utility company in connection with one of the fires, which investigators believe may have been sparked on July 31 by an electrical cable near the coastal village of Porto Germeno on the Gulf of Corinth, about 60km west of Athens.

At the height of the tourist season, the authorities warned that the wildfire threat would remain “very high” on Aug 3.

Civil Protection placed Attica, which surrounds the capital, and neighbouring Boeotia at level four on a five-point fire danger scale. AFP