All the hotel units were evacuated to safe places without any problems, while it is estimated that around 2,000 people have been rescued by sea, as stated in an emergency briefing on the fire in Rhodes, the press representative of the Fire Department, deputy fire chief, Giannis Artopaios.

As he said, “the fire in Rhodes made the work of the fire brigade difficult, mainly in the wider area of ​​Kiotari. During its course, it reached south of the settlement of Laerma and despite the efforts of the ground and air forces as well as the work of earthmoving machines and earth movers to open new fire zones, the fire moved in ravines with an intensity of 7 Beaufort in a southerly direction towards Lardo”. For this reason, an evacuation order was given by 112 to those residing in Asklepiio and Kiotari.

“In this particular area, the intensity of the phenomenon has now de-escalated”, noted Mr. Artophios and pointed out that “the preventive evacuations carried out today in Rhodes concern less than 10% of the tourist accommodation on the island”.

At the same time, as he said, “care has been taken for the accommodation of those who had to be removed from the affected areas” and added that a Blue Star ship is available to accommodate citizens.

Also, according to what the representative of the Port Authority, Nikos Alexiou, said in the main SKAI news bulletin, 3 ferry ships will also be used as floating hotels to accommodate the fire-affected citizens.

Specifically, three ships, the Blue Star Chios, the Dodecanese Express and the Panagia Skiadeni will host tourists.

A meeting of the coordinator at the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection is also underway with the participation of the Ministries of Environment and Energy, Tourism and representatives of EKAV, GEETHA, and the security forces.

As it became known from the press representative of the PS, under the coordination of the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Coast Guard vessels, private vessels, a cargo ship, a passenger ferry and inflatables of the commando squadron have already been deployed and are operating.

In addition, he underlined that according to the fire risk forecast map for tomorrow, Sunday, an extreme risk of fire is predicted in Attica, Evia, Boeotia, Phocis, Fthiotida, Magnesia, Larissa, Argolis, Corinth, Messinia, in areas of Achaia and Ilia and in the islands of the Rhodes Regional Unit, while the risk remains very high in the rest of the country. “The new heat wave creates dangerous conditions for the occurrence and spread of fires. In this extreme situation we are experiencing, the attention of all of us is required”, he concluded.