CHINAUS AFRICAASIA 中文双语Français
World\Europe

Wildfire rages on western island of Greece, no casualties reported

Xinhua | Updated: 2017-08-27 20:44

ATHENS - A large wildfire with seven fronts was raging on the Zakythos Island in western Greece on Sunday, with no casualties reported, the Greek Fire Service said.

The fire, which started on Saturday, has damaged at least three houses, while a village has been evacuated as a precautionary measure, the Greek national news agency AMNA reported.

Firefighters from the mainland have been dispatched to help extinguish the blaze, but strong winds blowing in the area hampered the fire control efforts.

Among the total 47 wildfires across the southern European country this weekend, the one on the Zakynthos Island was the largest, reports said.

Greece suffers from scores of destructive wildfires in summer due to high temperatures and arson.

In the past three decades, around 1,500 wildfires per year on average destroyed 1.2 million acres of land, according to a study conducted by the World Wildlife Fund Greece and the National Agricultural Research Foundation.

The country has to spend about 357 million euros ($426 million) per year in forest land protection, said Adrianos Gourbatsis, a retired deputy chief of the fire service.

The cost of damage caused by wildfires is far larger, experts have warned.

BACK TO THE TOP
Copyright 1995 - . All rights reserved. The content (including but not limited to text, photo, multimedia information, etc) published in this site belongs to China Daily Information Co (CDIC). Without written authorization from CDIC, such content shall not be republished or used in any form. Note: Browsers with 1024*768 or higher resolution are suggested for this site.
License for publishing multimedia online 0108263

Registration Number: 130349
FOLLOW US