On Monday, five water-dropping planes and five helicopters launched at dawn to assist hundreds of firefighters in combating a significant wildfire west of Athens, Greece. This came just a day after two firefighting helicopters collided midair, resulting in the deaths of two crew members.
The collision highlighted the acute dangers at the most volatile front of Europe’s wildfire crisis. The fire intensified near the Greek capital, prompting new evacuations early Monday. In France, firefighters continued to combat a massive fire that has scorched an area four times the size of Paris.
The deceased crew members, a Greek and a Danish national, died when their helicopter collided with another near Psatha while working on the fire that started on Friday morning. Winds often prevented water-dropping operations as flames consumed pine forests and scrubland throughout the weekend.
The second helicopter’s crew, a Greek and a British national, were hospitalized with minor injuries. International crews, including those from Denmark and Britain, often assist Greece during its hot, dry summers.
Firefighting Efforts and Challenges
The strong winds began to subside on Monday, raising hope that the approximately 500 firefighters engaged in the battle could control the fire’s spread. Yet authorities warned that the Athens region of Attica remains at high risk due to forecasted temperature increases.
Over 1,000 people have evacuated the region, with more than 250 rescued by boats from local beaches. On Monday, officials issued evacuation orders for three more areas as crews built firebreaks in the forest to prevent the blaze’s advance.
Greek authorities reported that sparks from a faulty power line connected to a private wind generator facility likely caused the fire. This sparked a series of legal actions, resulting in the arrest of an electrical engineer and a contractor linked to the project, both facing felony arson charges. An arrest warrant for the company owner has also been issued.
Greece routinely faces devastating wildfires each summer. The combination of hot, dry conditions and strong winds makes it easy for small sparks to ignite major fires. Fire risk mitigation measures, like banning barbecues and certain outdoor work, are frequently ignored. Negligence accounts for most wildfires, but some are intentionally set.
In another incident, authorities arrested a man on Kefalonia Island on suspicion of starting a fire that quickly spread, necessitating village evacuations.
The Situation in France and Spain
Further west, France’s largest wildfire remained contained within a 420-square-kilometer perimeter as of Sunday night, after forcing 224,000 people to evacuate. This may have been France’s largest civilian evacuation during peacetime. Despite the containment, hot spots within the burned area continued to threaten homes.
Nearly 3,000 firefighters battled the Gironde megafire and another major blaze in Provence, as fires in France and Spain together displaced around one-third of a million people. These fires have emptied communities during the peak of the European summer and stretched emergency services across multiple disasters.