On Tuesday firefighters brought the wildfire in northern Evia under control. The fire has caused damage to the environment, farms as well as the tourism and economy of Evia.
The fire started near the village of Limni (lake) in the surrounding pine forests and burned through some 3,000 hectares on land for three days and strong winds in the region made it difficult for the firefighting efforts by over 140 firefighters, 58 vehicles, 74 land units, 30 soldiers, 27 water tanks and 7 bulldozers along with firefighting brigades from the greater region to extinguish the blaze.
As authorities on Evia assess the ecological damage the fire caused the area, Yiannis Kotzias, the deputy regional governor for tourism says that he fears that the fire will cause further devastation to locals by impacting tourism.
“It’s the beginning of August and this unexpected ecological disaster is likely to negatively affect tourism,” Kotzias said to Kathimerini in an interview.
However, Kotzias pointed out that tourists should not make any changes to their plans if they were planning on visiting the island that is connected to the mainland of Greece by two bridges.
“Holidaymakers cannot see the burned areas from the places where they will swim, walk and enjoy themselves,” he added.
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