Wild Fire Ravages Resorts in Northern Greece
Pastor Dale Morgan
Aug 22, 1:25 PM EDT
*Wild Fire Ravages Resorts in Northern Greece*
By NIKOLAS GIAKOUMIDIS
Associated Press Writer
KRIOPIGI, Greece (AP) -- Firefighters raced Tuesday to exploit a lull in
winds fanning a wildfire that ravaged resorts in northern Greece,
leaving a German tourist dead and dozens of people injured.
Tourists began returning to parts of the Halkidiki peninsula struck by
the fire that had forced several thousand people to flee overnight from
campsites, hotels and holiday homes.
"The conditions have improved. The firefighters are doing a good job,"
said Giorgos Kalatzis, minister for the administrative regions of
Macedonia and Thrace.
At least 50 people - mostly Greeks - were hospitalized with breathing
problems, and several people were being treated for burns.
Up to 1,000 tourists from Britain alone fled the fire that tore through
the resorts of Polychrono, Hanioti, Kriopigi and Pefkochori. Several
hundred Germans, some 100 people from Scandinavian countries and about
100 Austrians were also involved in the evacuation. Romanian authorities
said about 1,000 of their nationals were in Halkidiki but it was not
clear how many were affected by the fire.
Nearly 1,200 people were transported by coast guard vessels across the
Gulf of Cassandra and away from the fire, the Merchant Marine Ministry
said. Others fled by car.
A 41-year-old German man drowned after experiencing heart problems while
trying to board boats taking tourists who were stranded on beaches in
the Cassandra area of the peninsula, state coroner Matthaios Tsoukas said.
The blaze destroyed about 12,000 acres (4,800 hectares) of forest, more
than 50 homes and dozens of cars, and left charred carcasses of farm
animals strewn across blackened hillsides. Authorities declared a state
of emergency late Monday.
Ten water-bombing planes and helicopters assisted more than 300
firefighters and soldiers, amid temperatures reaching 40 C (104 F).
A three-day heat wave in Greece has left two people dead from
heatstroke. A second major fire was threatening homes Tuesday in the
Laconia area in southern Greece, the fire service said.
Early Tuesday, rain storms that damaged crops elsewhere in northern
Greece missed the fires in Halkidiki, some 50 miles south of
Thessaloniki, Greece's second largest city.
"The damage in Halkidiki was great and the circumstances very
difficult," Interior Minister Prokopis Pavlopoulos said. "We express our
regret for the death of the German tourist."
Greece's main opposition Socialist party accused the government of
planning the operation badly after traffic-clogged roads hampered the
firefighting effort in the early stages. Several firefighting planes had
also been grounded for maintenance before nightfall late Monday.
Many residents were left to fend for themselves, fighting flames with
branches and water from garden hoses, and cutting down pine trees with
chain saws.