The Colossus of Rhodes, a huge statue of the sun god Helios almost as big as the Statue of Liberty in New York, was one of the original seven wonders of the world. It is long gone, and although the sun is shining over the Greek island, it has been characterized by dark clouds of smoke for just over a week. The authorities are now introducing a number of major and minor measures in the hope of limiting the damage. In some places, driving will be prohibited on Wednesday. Fear of movement In forested areas, including on the Pelion peninsula north-east of Athens, local authorities have introduced driving bans in 7-8 villages. – Wednesday will perhaps be the hottest day so far this summer, and this is an illustration of the fear, says Ola Storeng to news. He works as a tour guide in the Mediterranean country and returned home from Greece on Monday. – Any form of human activity is dangerous and there is nothing needed before it flares up. There could be a spark from a car scraping against something, or it could be someone sitting and smoking with the window open. In some places they do what they can. Greece connoisseur Ola Storeng fears a particularly hot Wednesday. Photo: news The authorities therefore want people to keep as calm as possible. – Greece is greener than many people think and is therefore a firebomb. Now the longest continuous heat wave can break, a record from 1987, says Storeng. On Sunday, he and his wife drove to Athens, and then the flames gradually came closer to them. “Watch out! Fire developing, drive carefully,” read signs along the road. – We were driving in an area where the fires were some distance away, but then the road changed direction a bit, and suddenly we were much closer. We were perhaps 30 meters away, and also saw a tongue of fire that reached the road, says Storeng. Once in the Greek capital, it wasn’t the usual summer sun they woke up to the next day, it was a “yellow-red forest fire sun” in the sky. Ola Storeng and his wife only saw the smoke at first. Later they saw flames close to the roadside. Photo: Private fire plane crashed The fires on Rhodes thrive very well in the heat wave and spread quickly due to strong winds. Nine fire planes and four helicopters are participating in the extinguishing work, and on Tuesday morning one of the planes crashed. So far, the fires have destroyed forest and agricultural areas totaling 150 square kilometres, writes NTB. This makes up approximately 10 percent of the island’s outdoor areas. Although it is the fires on Rhodes that have received the most attention, there are also fires on the islands of Corfu and Evvia, as well as on the mainland. There are also forest fires in the neighboring countries of Italy and Croatia. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis says the next two days will be critical. Heat wave Over most of the world, temperatures are on the rise as a result of global warming. Europe is the continent where temperatures are rising the fastest. Warming is progressing at different rates in different regions. In Europe, temperatures have risen twice as much as in the rest of the world since the 1980s. Based on what we know about climate change, we will have more frequent and more intense heat waves, according to the climate monitoring service C3S. Last year Spain, France, Germany, Portugal, Belgium and Great Britain, among others, had the hottest year ever recorded. El Niño is now helping to “accelerate” man-made climate change. The weather phenomenon has sparked concern that this year’s summer could be even more extreme than last year. El Niño, which occurs naturally every 2–7 years when the surface water in parts of the Pacific becomes abnormally warm. El Niño is generally associated with higher average temperatures. A strong El Niño can cause the globe to receive a “warmth boost” both this year and next year. The global temperature may thus get an extra boost this year and next year, and the risk of drought may increase in a number of areas. According to the European weather service Copernicus, the past eight years have been the warmest ever recorded in Europe. Scientists warn that 2023 will be a record warm year. The face of climate change Cicero researcher Bjørn Samset calls the fires in southern Europe “part of the face of climate change”. – The heat wave in Asia would occur once every 200 years, if it were not for climate change. Now it comes about every 10 years. The climate would not be able to create such powerful heat waves as in Europe or the USA, if it were not for our use of fossil fuels, says Samset to news. Forest fires are nothing new, but their scale and frequency are increasing. – The prerequisites for a fire are that it is very dry and very hot for a long time, then all the moisture evaporates from the ground. And then something starts it, whether it’s a forest machine or an unlucky tourist, and then it flares up in a big way, says Samset. A woman carries a bucket of water in the fight against the fires in the coastal town of Lindos on Rhodes. Photo: Petros Giannakouris / AP / NTB Fears for tourism Greece has been hit by several economic crises in recent years, and is completely dependent on tourism – which accounts for 25 percent of the country’s gross domestic product. One in five works in the industry, and now they fear that interest in holidaying there will decrease. – It is frightening and a bad experience for the tourists, but it is worse for us – because we live here. Everything burns. It will take many years to rebuild everything, says Lindos resident Edisa to the BBC. – Tourism for Greece is like oil for Norway. Fires are something the Greeks have to live with, the question is whether they can be limited in scope in the future, says Ola Storeng. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is asking Norwegians on holiday in southern Europe to be vigilant and monitor developments in the forest fires. – It is important to keep up to date on the situation, listen to advice from local authorities and follow their instructions. Those who travel with tour operators should also seek information from the travel company, says the Foreign Ministry’s communications manager Tuva Bogsnes.
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Driving prohibited in parts of Greece – news Urix – Foreign news and documentaries
