Sawt Falasteen - Thousands evacuated as Greece wildfire rages on Crete

An elderly man died in neighbouring Turkey, where wildfires forced the evacuation of six villages in the western province of Izmir.

Hot dry weather in Greece -- not unusual for this time of year -- has heightened the risk of a repeat of summer wildfires that have hit the country in recent years, while Turkey, although spared from the recent heatwaves that gripped southern Europe, has battled the effects of a long-term drought brought on by climate change.

On Crete, about 5,000 people were evacuated in response to a blaze that broke out Wednesday evening, the president of the regional hotels' association told AFP Thursday.

Yorgos Tzarakis said about 3,000 tourists and 2,000 residents had been moved, mostly overnight, as a "precaution" from areas close to the Crete resort town of Ierapetra.

Earlier, vice-prefect Yannis Androulakis told Greek broadcaster Mega confirmed "evacuations took place in numerous hotels and tourists were safely transferred to a closed gymnasium in the municipality of Ierapetra," in the southeast.

The authorities acted because water bomber planes could not reach the affected areas overnight, he added.

"At the moment, there are three active fronts," Androulakis said. "Because of the strong winds, the fire has progressed quite rapidly."

Around 270 firefighters, 10 helicopters and drones have been deployed to tackle the blaze, said Vassilios Vathrakoyannis, a spokesman for the fire service.

They include reinforcements sent in from the capital, Athens.

"There are still a number of different fronts. The fire is burning scrubland and crops," he said.

"The winds are very strong -- up to nine on the Beaufort scale."

- One dead in Turkey -

In Turkey, two wildfires broke out near Izmir, Turkey's third city.

In each case, three villages were evacuated.

"An elderly, bedridden patient could not be saved," Salih Uzun, a lawmaker in Izmir for the opposition CHP party, said of the blaze close to Odemis.

"The biggest problem is the wind speed of up to 85 kilometres per hour (53 miles per hour) which is causing the fire to spread very quickly. And it constantly changes direction," Izmir governor Suleyman Elban said.

"So the intervention from both land and air is seriously challenging," he told reporters, saying the flames had cut off the main highway from Izmir city.

In both places, a total of "nine planes, 22 helicopters and 1,100 (fire trucks and other) vehicles are intensively fighting the fires".

He said both fires in the province, as well as other that began at the weekend and have been brought under control, "were caused by power cables".

Citing forestry ministry figures, meteorologist Ismail Kucuk told AFP "90 percent of forest fires" were due to man-made causes.

Power cables in particular posed a risk if they were not properly maintained, he said.

- Uneven, arid terrain -

In Crete, Greece's largest island, the arid, uneven landscape criss-crossed by gullies, has made it difficult for firefighters to tackle the blaze.

The fire damaged houses and crops in fruit and vegetable greenhouses, media reports said.

Like the rest of Crete, Ierapetra -- a seaside resort with a population of 23,000 -- takes in thousands of tourists in the summer.

The risk of fires was "considerable" in July, the hottest month of the year in Greece, Vathrakoyannis said.

The country recorded its hottest-ever summer last year when 45,000 hectares (110,000 acres) of land was burned, according to WWF Greece and the Athens National Observatory.

In terms of surface area destroyed, 2023 was the worst on record.

Nearly 175,000 hectares were obliterated and 20 people died during heatwaves when temperatures rose in places to 46 degrees Celsius (115 degrees Fahrenheit).

Experts say human-driven climate change is causing more frequent and more intense wildfires and other natural disasters, and have warned Turkey to take measures to tackle the problem.

Q.Najjar--SF-PST