Fires set forest damage record, ravage wildlife

ATHENS – In six hot, windy days of uncontrolled blazes, Greece lost more of its rapidly dwindling forestland than in any single year on record.

The massive fires, several still raging yesterday, have killed at least 64 people and gutted hundreds of homes in scores of southern villages. The inferno also destroyed fragile mountain ecosystems – that will require decades to revive – and an entire rural way of life, threatening to turn thousands of villagers into environmental refugees.The fire department has not announced an overall damage assessment, but independent estimates say around 200 000 hectares of forest, olive groves and scrub may have been consumed – the largest amount since official records started in the 1950s.”These fires are worse than in any previous year,” said Gavriil Xanthopoulos, a researcher at Greece’s National Agricultural Research Foundation.”We exceeded the last record set in 2000,” about 145 000 hectares.Up to 184 000 hectares were laid waste between Friday and Monday alone – ten times the annual average for the past 50 years, according to the European Commission’s European Forest Fire Information System.A total 269 000 hectares – an area almost the size of Rhode Island – went up in smoke since the start of the year.Some say it was the worst catastrophe since a Turkish army ravaged the Peloponnese in 1825, during the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire.Arson has been widely blamed, and 11 people charged with deliberately setting fires.Arson suspects are rarely convicted.Where cases are proven, the motives are typically profit, revenge against neighbours, and shepherds trying to clear grazing pastures.Greece’s branch of Greenpeace estimated up to 250 000 hectares were destroyed this year, mainly in the summer months when temperatures repeatedly surged well over 40 degrees Celsius.”Nobody can provide an accurate figure right now, and several fires are still burning …It’s a record year,” said director Nikos Haralambidis.”But, quite frankly, who cares?” About 20 per cent of Greece is covered by forest, and the figure has been constantly dropping in recent decades.Haralambidis said the massive fires ravaged fragile ecosystems in the Peloponnese peninsula and caused ecological damage in the mountains, now facing the threat of floods and landslides in inhabited areas.Nampa-APThe inferno also destroyed fragile mountain ecosystems – that will require decades to revive – and an entire rural way of life, threatening to turn thousands of villagers into environmental refugees.The fire department has not announced an overall damage assessment, but independent estimates say around 200 000 hectares of forest, olive groves and scrub may have been consumed – the largest amount since official records started in the 1950s.”These fires are worse than in any previous year,” said Gavriil Xanthopoulos, a researcher at Greece’s National Agricultural Research Foundation.”We exceeded the last record set in 2000,” about 145 000 hectares.Up to 184 000 hectares were laid waste between Friday and Monday alone – ten times the annual average for the past 50 years, according to the European Commission’s European Forest Fire Information System.A total 269 000 hectares – an area almost the size of Rhode Island – went up in smoke since the start of the year.Some say it was the worst catastrophe since a Turkish army ravaged the Peloponnese in 1825, during the Greek War of Independence from the Ottoman Empire.Arson has been widely blamed, and 11 people charged with deliberately setting fires.Arson suspects are rarely convicted.Where cases are proven, the motives are typically profit, revenge against neighbours, and shepherds trying to clear grazing pastures.Greece’s branch of Greenpeace estimated up to 250 000 hectares were destroyed this year, mainly in the summer months when temperatures repeatedly surged well over 40 degrees Celsius.”Nobody can provide an accurate figure right now, and several fires are still burning …It’s a record year,” said director Nikos Haralambidis.”But, quite frankly, who cares?” About 20 per cent of Greece is covered by forest, and the figure has been constantly dropping in recent decades.Haralambidis said the massive fires ravaged fragile ecosystems in the Peloponnese peninsula and caused ecological damage in the mountains, now facing the threat of floods and landslides in inhabited areas.Nampa-AP