Fire Hazard Warning Issued in Greece as Heatwave Persists

Authorities in Greece issued a fire hazard warning as the heatwave codenamed “Kleon”, which has been affecting Greece over the past four days continues.

The heatwave has led to scorching temperatures of 42C, 43C and even 44C, according to weather stations of the National Observatory of Athens and meteo.gr, it was reported on Saturday.

On Friday, 87 weather stations nationwide recorded highs above 40 degrees Celsius, with 14 stations registering highs above 42C. The absolute maximum temperature of 44.2C was recorded in the region of Thiva.

Kleon peaked with such high temperatures on both Friday and Saturday, Associate Researcher at the Institute for Environmental Research & Sustainable Development of the National Observatory of Athens, Dr. Theodore Giannaros, told Athens-Macedonian News Agency (AMNA) on Saturday.

Giannaros went on to explain that “the data we currently have at our disposal shows that there will be a slight decrease in temperature on Sunday, which will mainly affect the northern regions and the eastern continental regions, including Attica, and this is because northerly winds will become stronger over the Aegean Sea.”

However, he went on, in Western Greece high temperatures will persist on Sunday as well, well into the 40Cs. In the rest of the country, it will drop 2-3 degrees – marginally below 40 degrees Celsius.”

Intense hot weather will indeed persist until the middle of next week, he noted, and from July 20-21 onwards “we will have another adverse rise in temperatures, to the level of yet another heatwave”, he stressed.

Fire hazard warning in the midst of the heatwave

With such high temperatures authorities have issued a fire hazard warning for Saturday.

According to the fire hazard prediction map published by the Civil Protection Agency, five regions are considered to be at very high risk of wildfires, ranking at Level 4 (orange) out of a maximum of 5.

They are Attica, Central Greece (Viotia, Evia), the Peloponnese (Corinthia and Argolida), the South Aegean (Rhodes) and the North Aegean (Chios, Samos and Ikaria).

Residents and visitors are advised not to engage in any dangerous activities such as building campfires, holding barbecues or burning plant trimmings in at-risk regions, and especially in wooded areas.

They are also urged to be especially mindful of littering, as trash like tin cans, cigarette butts or plastic bottles can spark or accelerate a blaze.

The flammability of dead forest fuel is critically high. Based on the analysis of available forecast data, the moisture content of dead forest fuels (flammability index) is expected to drop below 10% in several areas of eastern mainland Greece, remaining at these levels even during the night.