The fire in Athens burned an area almost twice the size of Manhattan, writes the international ideographic agency
The Associated Press made a trip to the region of Attica that was affected by the fire in August, capturing the extent of the destruction with photographs.
As the AP writes, the fire reached the urban fabric of Athens, destroying houses, businesses, green spaces, leaving “deep scars on the landscape around the capital of Greece, where more than 1/4 of
In its article, the agency hosts the testimony of a sculptor whose workshop was located in Patima Chalandriou. The fire blackened everything leaving only a bust of a saint intact.
“It’s not the financial cost. I’ve lost my job,” the sculptor told the AP. “I’ve been doing this for 35 years, since I was a kid, when I was 14,” adding that “the fire started and then it was carried by strong winds – this place was a natural phenomenon,” Elias said. “But many residents ignored orders to clear the grounds of their homes, so we cannot blame politicians alone for the response. It’s also in our hands.”
The fire that started on August 11th has gone through more than 100 square kilometers of forest, reaching Marathon Lake.
The agency cites data from the National Observatory of Athens, according to which the fire brought the area of land burned in the Attica region since 2017 to more than 700 square kilometers. This represents 26% of the region’s total area and 37% of its forests – highlighting the increasing frequency and severity of forest fires in recent years.
“The blackened hills, burnt cars and aerial views of the devastation are a reminder of the intensity of the fire – it defied a massive deployment of firefighters, as well as planes and helicopters dropping water. Several other countries also used planes and fire crews to help Athens,” the AP notes.
“The government ordered rapid evacuations along the southern path, but also fined homeowners who ignored fire safety regulations.”
Source: Skai
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