The fire in Evia broke out early on Thursday afternoon near Katsaroni, Karystos. By order of the head of the Fire Brigade, Stefanos Kolokouris, subject matter experts have been sent on the site in order to investigate the causes of the fire.
As the Deputy Regional Governor of Evia, George Kelaiditis, told protothema.gr, the fire is now raging on two fronts, in a forest area and more forces have been requested, as the winds blowing in the area are strong and the flames, although not currently threatening the settlement of Katsaroni, however they are not far away.
“We have three airplanes and a helicopter that are currently trying to put out the fire together with the ground forces and winds of around 6 to 7 Beaufort are blowing. The fire is very close to the village of Katsaroni, we have not evacuated the village but we have informed the residents that if necessary, evacuation will take place”, said the mayor of Karystos to protothema.gr.
The Commander of the Fire Brigade of Chalkida, Apostolou Simos spoke to protothema.gr and stated that, “there are still strong winds in the area, the fire is close to the houses but the men of the fire brigade are keeping it away from the houses. We are really going far and beyond in order to put out the fire and everything will be fine”, he said.
There are currently 57 firefighters operating with 20 vehicles. One helicopter and three aircraft are operating.
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The fire in Knossos near houses
At around one and a half in the afternoon, however, an alarm was sounded in Knossos, in Heraklion, Crete where a large fire broke out near a residential area. All forces of the Heraklion Fire Brigade rushed to the scene.
In particular the fire broke out in the area between the archeological site of Knossos and the cemetery of Fortetsa, behind the Villa Ariadne.
The efforts of the Fire Brigade are focused in that area as there are houses there, and according to sources the flames are quite close. The situation improved shortly before 3.30pm.
