Thousands of locals and tourists have been evacuated from their homes and hotels on the Greek island of Rhodes. This was reported by the fire service of the country.
In the east of the island, the situation is particularly difficult, and people from the beaches are being evacuated by coast guard vessels and private boats.
According to available information, ships of the Greek fleet are also heading to this popular tourist area.
The deputy fire chief of Greece said his service is now fighting fires in many areas of the country, but they are the most difficult in Rhodes.
In the Kiotari area, three hotels have already been affected by the fire, which is being extinguished by five helicopters and 173 firefighters.
Becky Mulligan, a tourist from Britain, said she was evacuated from her hotel to the beach along with her sister and daughter, where they, along with hundreds of other vacationers, were stuck in intense heat.
“There is only one small shed on the beach, and there are too many of us,” she told the BBC. “Many children, the middle of the day, and we can’t go anywhere and sit here without any help whatsoever. It’s just disgusting.”
Another vacationer, Simon Whitley, said that while he was eating, ash began to fall on his pizza.
“The hotel said it was normal and nothing to worry about as they contacted the authorities about the situation,” he told the BBC.
His hotel was later evacuated. “We saw that the beach bar we were at the day before had burned down. Everything was in thick smoke. We had to leave two bags with things at the hotel,” Whitley said.
Travel company TUI said that although only a small number of its hotels were directly affected by the fire, they decided to relocate their tourists to other places as a precaution.
On Saturday, July 22, firefighters from Slovakia also arrived in Rhodes to help local teams.
“The situation in Rhodes is serious and extremely complex. Due to strong winds and a quick change in the direction of the fire, the firefighters had to retreat and move to another place,” the Slovak Fire and rescue services wrote on Facebook.
According to them, part of the Slovak rescue team moved to coastal resorts to help evacuate people.
Even more intense heat is expected this weekend in Greece, with meteorologists warning that temperatures could rise to 45 °C. According to the Hellenic National Meteorological Service (EMY), the heat wave will peak on Sunday. To make matters worse, after a brief reprieve on Monday, Greece is forecast to be hit by another wave of abnormally high temperatures, lasting until next weekend.
According to one of the country’s leading meteorologists, they may face the worst July heat wave in 50 years.
Firefighters continue to fight dozens of wildfires that have broken out across the country. Particularly affected were the area west of Athens, Laconia in the south of the Peloponnese, and the island of Rhodes.
Authorities are warning of a very high risk of new fires as the heat wave is not going to subside yet.
All residents of the country were advised not to leave their homes during the hottest time of the day, and the main tourist attraction of the Greek capital, the Acropolis of Athens, will be closed to the public at the same time.
Like other countries in southern Europe, Greece experienced a long period of extremely hot weather in early July.
It came at one of the busiest times for the country’s tourism industry.