The Greek island of Chios – he declared it state of emergency After three consecutive days of fires. The first fire broke out around 12 on Sunday 22 June in the Forestry Area of Kofinas: the stake, then, spread to great rapidity Up to the city of Chios and the villages of Agia Anna and Agios Makarios.
In recent days the local authorities had already sent reinforcements to try to appease the uncontrolled bonfires, probably of malicious originwith the intervention of 282 Fire Brigade operational, 38 vehicles, 4 planes and 13 helicopters. This morning, then, on the island, others made themselves operational 444 Fire Brigadesupported by 30 volunteers and 85 vehicles. About 20 villages have been evacuated: for now the bonfires are concentrated in the central area of the island, but they are expanding rapidly also because of the strong winds and of high temperatures.
The island of Chios, a short distance of Türkiye in the Aegean sea, the fifth by surface of the Greek archipelago, is not new to vast fires, such as those that in 2012 created large damage.
The Map of the Bonfires in Chios and the data on the fire season in Greece
At the moment they are beyond 2230 the hectares of arsi from the dozens of bonfires scattered on the island. The eastern strip of the area involved by the bonfires touches the city of Chios, while the twenty directed to the south-west are creating propagins of wooded soil burning that they are heading towards the western coast of the island. At the moment, however, the three most affected areas remain those ranging from the locations of Karyes until Kleidoutogether with the area between Vrondados, Agios Markos and Agios Makarios and the one that extends from Korakari to the city of Chios. All this can be seen on the map below, which combines satellite images and fire data.
However, according to the surveys of the European Terrestrial Monitoring Program Copernicus, this year the season of Fires in Greece It is revealed particularly aggressive: on June 24 they are already burned 5,318 hectares of soil. This is the record in the country since 2006, with the average in the period 2006-2024 which is around 1,733 hectares. Hence, the choice of the Greek government to take a record number of firefighters: approximately 18,000 firefighters They will be deployed to cover the entire fire season.
The situation now: the damage and the danger to the Pavia di Lentisco
Fires continue to be out of controleven if, for the moment, the bonfires remain concentrated in the central part of the island: the high temperatures and the strong winds, however, could further worsen the situation and make the interventions of the firefighters more difficult.
The fire, among other things, also caused several Electricity interruptionswith consequent problems for water pumping systems and fire -fighting infrastructures that are based on electricity. In general, in the first six months of the year Greece has reached a new record of burnt hectares: also for this reason, it state of emergency of Chios has been extended until 22 July. For the moment, however, There are no victims.
The firefighters are also trying to prevent the fires from damaging the Lentisco plantationsa shrub from whose resin the resin is produced mastica substance used both for food purposes (for the production of desserts and liqueurs) and for cosmetic products. The island of Chios is one of the few places in the world where the lentisco is cultivated: the local economy depends deeply on this productionwhich had already been strongly damaged during the 2012 fires, when the bonfires had caused the loss of 60% of the crops.
