The fire on Serifos island is without an active front after the the Hellenic Fire Service’s all-night battle with the flames. Houses, chapels, and warehouses were damaged, as the fire was fanned by strong winds and raged uncontrollably.
Dozens of volunteers from Syros and Piraeus helped firefighters extinguish the blazes that had been raging since late afternoon on Saturday. The fires broke out in areas of relatively low vegetation.
According to the Fire Service statement, at this time on the Cyclades island, there are only scattered fronts within the burned areas. These are gradually being extinguished by firefighters.
Thirty-three firefighters with 15 vehicles are operating at the scene, including seven firefighters with three vehicles. They traveled yesterday afternoon by ferry from Syros with the ferry “ARTEMIS.” Furthermore, 22 firefighters with 11 vehicles made their way last night from Piraeus with the ferry “WIND,” while, since dawn, a helicopter has been carrying out aerial water drops.
On Saturday, three messages were sent from the 112 cell-phone warning of the Civil Protection asking for the evacuation of several settlements on Serifos. Specifically, the settlements of Ramos, Livadakia, Karavi, Koutalas, Ganema, Vaya, Kalo Ambeli, and Livadi were promptly evacuated.
“No idea what caused the fire” on Serifos in Greece
Serifos Mayor Constantinos Revinthis spoke extensively to Mega television on Sunday morning, providing an early estimate of damage.
“The fire is under control, [and] it has been brought under control in all places,” Revinthis said. “Now we’re just doing surveillance work. All of southwestern Serifos has burned. We are talking about an area where the fire stopped in the sea. We succeeded and stopped one side of the fire front, [and] we were also helped by the wind pushing it towards the burnt area, so we managed to extinguish it and here, above the beach of Vaya and from the side of Ramos, we succeeded and stopped it.”
“No account has been taken so far,” the mayor continued, “but certainly some houses have suffered serious damage. There are warehouses full of goods that have been burnt to the ground. Also, some chapels have been damaged.” According to the mayor, while some people evacuated their homes, they were then able to return.
“We have no idea what caused the fire,” he said. “It was a very difficult night, [and] the winds were very strong. The Fire Service forces are watching at all points. I was told by the ministry that helicopters will arrive shortly to carry out targeted extinguishing.”
Wildfires rage throughout all of Greece at various locations but especially in the Athens area.
See all the latest news from Greece and the world at Greekreporter.com. Contact our newsroom to report an update or send your story, photos and videos. Follow GR on Google News and subscribe here to our daily email!
