Perilous
Times and Climate Change
Raging Wildfire devastates forests on Greek island
by Staff Writers
Athens (AFP) Aug 4, 2011
A raging wildfire on the picturesque Ionian island of Corfu has
devastated pine forests and olive groves, the island's mayor said
on Thursday, blaming arsonists.
The blaze raced across a 40-kilometre (25 miles) front in the
island's northeast on Tuesday night, nearing inhabited areas but
without threatening the island's extensive tourist resorts, the
mayor said.
The fire department on Thursday said most of the fronts had been
checked with the assistance of water bombers and a helicopter.
Scores of fires break out in Greece every summer, aided by high
temperatures and strong winds and frequently attributed to arson,
though the perpetrators are rarely caught.
In 2007, a wave of wildfires killed 77 people and destroyed over
250,000 hectares of land, mainly in the Peloponnese and the island
of Evia.
In 2009, hundreds of people were evacuated near Athens owing to
another wildfire in the capital's eastern suburbs.