A large wildfire is raging in the Trapezitsa area, near the town of Konitsa in Epirus, northwestern Greece, with firefighting forces battling to bring it under control. The blaze broke out on 31 August, and in recent days extremely strong flare-ups have driven the flames to a much greater scale while also making the Fire Service’s task considerably harder.

According to the latest information, more than 150 firefighters are fighting the fire, backed by eight ground crews and 48 vehicles, while eight aircraft and four helicopters are operating from the air, in a highly inaccessible spot that can, in practice, only be brought under control from above.

On the morning of Sunday 6 September, the Civil Protection service of the Municipality of Konitsa issued a statement warning residents that extinguishing the fire from the air will increase the smoke already covering the whole town. “People with respiratory or heart conditions are asked to remain in hermetically sealed spaces using air conditioning, set to air recycling mode, or to leave the area in good time. Do not travel towards the fire and do not park vehicles on narrow roads; keep routes clear for fire engines,” the statement said.

The operation is extremely difficult given the terrain in which the fire is burning, which is essentially inaccessible, with ground and aerial firefighting forces focusing their attention and efforts on preventing the fire from descending towards the town of Konitsa and the forest above it.

The Abbot of the Holy Monastery of Stomio, Maximos, told Epirus Post that the fire is coming down the gorge towards the river. He said that if it crosses the river and enters Tymfi, part of the wider Pindus mountain range, things would become very difficult and hard to extinguish. The Abbot stressed the need for intervention in the area of the river in order to prevent the fire crossing to the other side.

At the same time, access for fire engines to the Monastery of Stomio is particularly difficult. According to the Abbot, there is no road along a critical stretch, and a few dozen metres without road access are effectively preventing fire engines from approaching.

Dense fuel on the mountain

The difficulty of the situation was also described to Epirus Post by the former Mayor of Konitsa, Makis Hatzieframidis. He noted that despite the continuous efforts of the aerial units, the fire front is still active, in a particularly difficult and dense forested environment.

The mountain is covered mainly by junipers, pines and old fir trees. Because the terrain is so steep, no logging has taken place there, resulting in a significant build-up of flammable material.

At the same time, the high resin content of the trees is adding to the difficulty of the firefighting effort and helping the fire to spread.