Out of control for the 9th consecutive day is the fire in Evros, which has formed a single front, with the flames burning everything in their path.

Shortly after 2 in the afternoon, a new 112 message was sent to evacuate the residents in the Lefkimmi area, who were asked to move to Tychero.

A little later, 112 was issued for the evacuation of the Kassitera area, in Rodopi, with the residents being asked to move to Sapes.

“Bell” from the vice-regional governor of Evros: “The winds are changing, a bigger threat than Monday”

The deputy governor of Evros sounded the alarm for the fire that is burning in Evros for the 8th consecutive day Dimitris Petrovich.

In his statements on the state channel, Mr. Petrovic stressed that on Monday the air conditions will change and the situation will become even more dangerous and he asked for the reinforcement of the media.

“Now the fire is united. It is a “very difficult situation”, which has caused untold destruction. Unfortunately, we see that the Nanny front cannot be contained, cannot be brought under control. And this worries us more. Yesterday we had an alarm at Avra, Sycorrachis, in Aisymi the winds changed and we had a threat, but the important thing is that the fire in Dadia cannot be contained. We are talking about more than 750,000 acres in the forest complex of Soufli and Alexandroupoli. Imagine this forest complex is 1,600,000 hectares and this fire is the biggest fire in Europe at the moment.”

“We made another appeal for the reinforcement of the means, because from Monday the winds are changing, so the threat is growing and then we do not know how and if it will be possible to stop the advance of the fire front. All this worries us,” he said.

Asked why the fire cannot be extinguished, he explained that we are talking about a large single front from the Dadia forest to the fire that broke out north of Alexandroupolis while he noted that the forest had not been cleared. “The forest of Dadia is virgin. You saw in the first days that the fire of Dadia descended with great speed. In two hours he arrived north of Alexandroupoli. We are talking about 7-8 Beaufort winds in the microclimate created by the fire. It gained very high speed, passing and burning everything. Our assessment is that at some point we will have to approach the issue differently. First, because this forest had not, had never been cleared in the logic of the virgin forest. It should have a different management. It is a huge forest with great biodiversity. But, it had not been cleaned.”

Extraordinary meeting under Kikilia

An information meeting of the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vass Kikilia, on the situation of the fire fronts in the Evros, is taking place at this time, in Alexandroupoli, in a hall of the Dimokritos airport, where the minister arrived earlier.

The meeting is attended by the Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food, Member of Parliament for Evros, St. Keletsis, the regional governor of An. Macedonia and Thrace Chr. Metsios, the deputy regional governor D. Petrovich, the mayor of Soufliou Pan. Kalakikos as well as representative of the municipality of Alexandroupoli

After the meeting, as it became known, the minister will fly to the areas affected by the fires in Evros, with a super puma.

According to the Fire Department, the main front of the Evros fire is located in the area of ​​Leptokarya, while flare-ups occurred during the night in Dadia. Strong ground firefighting forces, along with volunteer firefighters and Armed Forces forces, are participating in the operations in Evros, while 4 aircraft and 3 helicopters started dropping water from the first light of day.

After the meeting, the minister said: “First of all I have to start by thanking all the people, men and women, Fire Brigade, Local Government volunteers of the Armed Forces, the Hellenic Police, volunteers, people, colleagues who live here and do business. They stand by and support.

Indeed, we are talking about a very large perimeter in which the two fires joined, that of Alexandroupoli and that of Dadia, and in which perimeter our forces are operating. I want to say that there is indeed this imaginary straight line in which 14 fires started that day and this is something that the DAE, the Hellenic Police and the EYP will investigate. And I repeat, we will not speculate or comment further until this investigation is complete.

I want to say that they will be further reinforced with ground forces and with new ones, even though a very large part of the Fire Corps and air forces are here, further with ground forces and with fire engines and with aerial means.

In our effort over the next few days, however long it takes to get this fire under control. And of course at the end of this effort, as we have done this year with all the big fires, it will also be evaluated operationally. I would like to tell you that today is the time of battle for all and it is decided and we will continue to be all those who must coordinate or attempt. And in the end we will make it.

But after this very big effort, comes a very big preparation, a very big discussion and decisions that have to do with prevention, that have to do with forest protection, that have to do with the zones that must be created, that they have to do with the control of the two levels of local government.

In terms of the projects, the flood projects that will be required, the fire protection projects, the prevention projects and how we will upgrade and move forward, the operational way we will respond to the big challenges of the future.

Some talk about climate change, some others about climate crisis, some scientists, even about climate collapse. What is certain is that the country, Europe and the planet often face challenges and we must appear more ready and more efficient, for what the future will bring.”