Rhodes wildfire triggers evacuation in Greece as strong winds may fan flames

Rhodes wildfire has been burning for nearly a week as Greece experiences an extended spell of heatwave

Web Desk

July 23, 2023

This photograph taken on July 22, 2023, shows smoke rising from a burnt hotel complex during a wildfire on the Greek island of Rhodes. — AFP

As Greece continued to experience an extreme heatwave and evacuation orders issued, predicted high winds Sunday may hinder the operations being conducted by rescue officials busy extinguishing and containing the Rhodes wildfire spread out of control.

The Greek island of Rhodes is one of the country's famous tourist destinations for people from Britain, Germany, and France. As the fire began to engulf what came in the way, officials started to evacuate people from the path of the blaze.

The fire has been burning on the island for nearly a week as Greece has been experiencing an extended spell of heatwave.

Tourists gesture in a basketball hall where they spent their night due to the wildfire in Rhodes, on the Greek island of Rhodes on July 23, 2023. — AFP

"This is the biggest fire evacuation ever in Greece," Konstantia Dimoglidou, Greek police spokeswoman told AFP.

"We had to evacuate an area of 30,000 people."

According to the police, authorities had transported some 16,000 people across the land, with 3,000 evacuated by sea, while others fled by road or under their own transport after being told to leave the area.

German travel giant Tui said it was "suspending all its inbound passenger flights to Rhodes until Tuesday but would fly in empty planes to help evacuate tourists."

This photograph taken on July 22, 2023, shows pine trees burning in a wildfire on the Greek island of Rhodes. — AFP

Spokesperson Linda Jonczyk told AFP that Tui had some 40,000 tourists in Rhodes, of which 7,800 are affected by the fires.

The low-cost British carrier Jet2 also said it had cancelled "all flights and holidays" to the island.

One German tourist told AFP they were "saved from the fire at the last moment" after returning from the beach Saturday to a deserted hotel.

"We had embers flying around our heads and no help was in sight," said 23-year-old Paul from Bielefeld.

"I had the feeling of being on my own, it was so hot and the smoke was already so thick we couldn't have survived another ten minutes."

He said buses then arrived to evacuate the tourists, but some were so panicked they were trying to find boats to escape on from the beach.

People stand on a beach after a fire destroyed facilities of a hotel in the village of Kiotari on the Greek island of Rhodes during a wildfire on July 22, 2023. — AFP

Authorities have warned that the battle to contain the flames — raging in the middle of peak tourism season — will take several days.

Fire department spokesman Vassilis Vathrakoyiannis warned winds were set to become "more intense" through Sunday, which could further fan the flames.

Last year Rhodes, which has a population of over 100,000, welcomed some 2.5 million tourist arrivals.

The fires reached the village of Laerma during the night, engulfing houses and a church, while many hotels were damaged by flames that had reached the coast.

On Sunday the blaze was burning in three active fronts — including on the southeast coast of the island where firefighters tried to prevent the fire from crossing a creek.

Efforts are focusing on preventing the fire from spreading further north into the dense forest.