Greece - Wildfire, update (JRC EFFIS, Copernicus EMSR, Greek Civil Protection, Greek Civil Protection, media) (ECHO Daily Flash of 22 August 2023)

In the last 24 hours, 65 new forest fires, 24 of them serious occurred across the whole of Greece. According to the Greek Civil Protection, the main fire is located in the area of Alexandroupolis Municipality, East Macedonia Region, north-eastern Greece. The wildfire started on 19 August and is currently not contained. According to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), the burnt area is over 10,300 hectares.
The Greek Civil Protection and media, as of 21 August, report that two people died, one in Evros Region (Eastern Macedonia and Trace) and one in central Viotia Region (southern Greece). Around Alexandroupolis, 13 villages have been evacuated and eight people were injured.
The ERCC mobilised 7 firefighting planes and a helicopter from its rescEU strategic reserves stationed in Sweden, Germany, Croatia, Czechia and Cyprus; Czechia, Romania and Slovakia further offered a ground firefighting team each.
The Copernicus Emergency Management Service (EMSR686) was activated on 20 August and three maps have been produced.
Over the next 48 hours, according to EFFIS, the fire danger forecast is expected to be very extreme across the Alexandroupolis area and from high to very extreme in southern and north- eastern Greece.

Greece – Wildfire, update (JRC EFFIS, Copernicus EMSR, Greek Civil Protection, Greek Civil Protection, media) (ECHO Daily Flash of 22 August 2023)