Firefighters Risk Lives On Thasos

Memories of a big fire from 1989 were brought back again when Greek firefighters risked their lives to tackle a blaze on Thasos, an  on Aug. 16.
The fire was burning in many fronts and different directions because of powerful winds that pushed flames through the reborn forests of Kallirachi and Maries. Thasos is close to the coast of Thrace and the plain of the river Nestos but geographically part of Macedonia.
Early in the morning the situation was so hard that the governor of the region contacted the General Secretary for Civil Protection and asked for firefighting planes to assist. There were 93 firefighters operating on the island with 36 vehicles. The army also offered help in trying to extinguish the fire.
The Vice Governor of Eastern Macedonia-Thrace Aris Yannakidis told ThessToday.gr, that some firefighters almost lost their lives while fighting with the flames. “A team of seventeen firefighters with two vehicles was trapped in the fire’s front at Marlou next to the village of Kallirachi, where there was given a fight in order for the fire not to approach the village and the houses. A whole enterprise took place and finally the all firefighters were saved.
The blaze made islanders recall the 1989 conflagration that burned three-quarters of the island and threatened Kallirachi. Then, the village was evacuated and the residents were transferred to Skala of Thasos.

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