Greek firefighters are busy containing, for the twelfth consecutive day, the vast fire broke out in the Evros peripheral unit, on the border with Turkey, near the Dadias Forest National Park. The fire, despite the large deployment of firefighters, is still out of control and the authorities have decided to evacuate the settlements of Giannouli and Sidirò.
The strong winds that are blowing in these hours have made the front of the flames particularly challenging near Kotronia, as reported by the Kathimerini website. The fire, which broke out on August 19, has burned over 81 thousand hectares, an area larger than the city of New York, as reported by Copernicus, the European satellite observation program, on X.
Yesterday, European Commission spokesman Balazs Ujvari claimed that the fire was “the largest ever recorded in the EU”. The flames are destroying one of Greece’s most important protected areas, the Dadias forest, which is part of the Natura 2000 network of European member states to protect sites of particular importance for flora and fauna. Alexandros Dimitrakopoulos, a professor specializing in forest fires, told Mega TV that it was “an irreversible disaster”, explaining: “It will take years to rebuild this unique forest, even in 100 years we may not find this biodiversity anymore”.
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