Forest fires in Rhodes by Matt Taylor
A large and intense forest fire which has been raging for six days in Greece has now been brought under control.
The fire broke out on Tuesday on the Greek holiday island of Rhodes and was spread by strong winds over the past few days. More than 5,000 hectares of forest and scrub have been burnt, along with large areas of vineyards.
In central Rhodes, local residents and tourists were forced to evacuate the village of Laerma which was particularly under threat from the blaze. Firefighters were stretched to the limit, and aid was brought in from other parts of Greece, as well as from France, Italy and Cyprus to help extinguish the flames.
The Rhodes blaze is the latest Greek forest fire this summer, amid prolonged very hot and dry weather. High pressure has been dominating the weather across the eastern Mediterranean producing long, drawn out heatwaves. Very little, if any rain as fallen in the area over the past few months and temperatures have soared up to 40C (104F).
Last year, extreme and intense heatwaves affected Greece for much of the summer with temperatures reaching higher than 45C (113F) in some parts. Some of the worst forest fires in living memory broke out across southern parts of the country, especially the Peloponnese region. More than 300,000 hectares of forests, olive groves and orchards were devastated and 77 people were killed.
Forecasters are predicting the rest of this summer to be very dry and hot across the eastern Mediterranean and southeast Europe, with the fire risk remaining high.
