ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A rapidly spreading wildfire on the Greek island of Crete triggered early Thursday evacuations of hotels and homes as it bore down on coastal areas.
Authorities said evacuations were ordered at three sites outside the port of Ierapetra on the island’s south coast. Homes were reported damaged as flames swept through hillside forests, fanned by strong winds.
“It’s a very difficult situation. The fire is very hard to contain. Right now, they cannot contain it,” Nektarios Papadakis, a civil protection official at the regional authority, told the Associated Press. “The tourists who were moved out are all okay. They have been taken to an indoor basketball arena and hotels in other regions of the island,” he said. Authorities said more than 1,500 people so far had been moved out of homes and hotels, with the number expected to increase overnight. The Fire Service and a civil protection agency issued localized mobile phone alerts for the evacuations and appealed to residents not to return to try and save their property. The fires lit up the night sky, cresting ridgelines and edging toward residential areas. Several residents were treated for breathing difficulties, officials said, but there were no immediate reports of serious injuries. The blaze sent clouds of ash into the night sky, illuminated by the headlights of emergency vehicles and water trucks that lined the coastal road near the resorts of Ferma and Achlia on the southeast of Crete.
More than 150 firefighters were operating in the area, while water-dropping planes and helicopters remained grounded overnight. Members of specialized units – often only working with hand tools – were creating hillside fire breaks to try and slow the advance of the blaze.
Crete is one of Greece’s most popular tourist destinations. The risk of wildfires remained very high across Crete and parts of southern Greece Thursday, according to a daily bulletin issued by the Fire Service.
