This report was originally published by Tyler Durden at Zero Hedge
Drone footage from Greece’s deadliest forest fire in decades reveals a ravaged hellscape of partially standing structures and incinerated foliage.
The fire broke out Monday northeast of Athens in the seaside Rafina region, racing through the area fueled by gale-force winds and leaving 82 dead with most burned beyond recognition, as crews searched for more victims.
Spokeswoman Stavroula Malliri said the search for further potential victims continued, So far, she said homes in the area that had not been destroyed and were shut had not been entered by rescue crews, but that the search would not end until every building in the area had been thoroughly investigated.
Apart from the house-to-house searches in the burnt areas, coast guard and volunteer divers were also searching the waters off the coast of the worst affected areas and a nearby deserted island. –CBS
Hundreds of people fled to nearby beaches after the fires broke out Monday, with many swimming out to sea to avoid the smoke and flames.
Dozens spent hours at sea before being picked up by coast guard vessels, fishing boats and a passing ferry. Several of the dead were people who drowned.
The worse affected area was the seaside community of Mati, where the majority of victims were found, including 26 people found huddled together, many embracing.
Most of the bodies have been burnt beyond recognition, meaning identification was possible only through DNA and dental records. –CBS
Maria Saridou and her son went to a morgue in the Greek capital to provide DNA samples as they searched for Saridou’s 55-year-old missing sister, Eleni, who had gone swimming with a friend in Mati.
“We found her car, it wasn’t burnt, nor was the house,” said 60-year-old Saridou. “It’s just that we can’t find her. … I believe she’s alive. Where she went, nobody knows where she went.”
My mum last year vs my mum today. Blue Limanaki, Rafina. #greece #greecefire #grecia #wildfires #rafina #GreekFires #πυρκαγια #ραφηνα #μπλε pic.twitter.com/N15YjeiAiw
— V Kritsie (@vkritsie) July 24, 2018
Hundreds of homes were also burnt or destroyed in the inferno, which ripped through the coastal area so fast it took many by surprise as the narrow streets in Mati quickly became clogged with parked and abandoned cars as people ran for their lives. As a result, escape routes were blocked and firefighters had trouble accessing key areas.
Some of the dead are believed to have tried to make it to the shore through narrow pathways, but lost their way in the thick smoke or had their paths blocked by the swift-moving blaze. Even those on beaches were not safe, as flames burned trees and vegetation at the water’s edge, while flaming pine cones rained downward, survivors have said. –CBS
Firefighting efforts from the air and sea were also hampered by gale-force winds and rough seas, as well as multiple fires which broke out at the same time.
Survivors are blaming authorities of failing to adequately prepare for the fires, and for not issuing evacuation orders soon enough. Defense Minister Phanos Kammenos tried to reassure residents of Mati Thursday morning, however residents weren’t having it.
“People died for nothing!” one woman cried to the minister.
Giannis Kardiakos, a local resident who says he stayed in the affected area until midnight, said that firefighting and rescue efforts started far too late.
“There was no protection, there was nothing! … I’m saying things as they were,” he said, as Kammenos detailed what the military and firefighters had been doing to battle the fire. “I’m not lying. We’re not talking politically here,” he added, before breaking down in tears.
Horrible and shocking: fires in Greece taking lives of 60 people (more?) All this happens so close to home, it seems surreal. Worried about my family in #Rafina 🙁 #Greecefires pic.twitter.com/PiQ5GxKzAF
— Zhenya (@evgenia_fili) July 24, 2018
Wonder how Manos is doing?
possee?
Bueller?
Bueller?
Curious fire. The houses and cars burned but the trees didn’t!
My oh my what on earth could cause this? Certainly not a forest fire. Looks similar to the recent California fires.
Evergreens, such as pine trees, need fires occasionally to burn out the undergrowth. If there weren’t fires, hardwoods would eventually shade out the evergreens and kill them. This is why there were so many pine forests in eastern NC. We have occasional controlled burns so nothing gets out of hand. There has never been a huge forest fire anywhere near where I’ve lived.
I am wonder if any of this was started by the New Greek citizens? Just wondering.
Perhaps the (Real) Greek people are not showing enough appreciation for their New Greek Citizens?
WHY Should all these greedy Greeks (Real Ones) live in such nice homes when so many “new” citizens are forced to do without?
The news reports yesterday said it is believed all these fires were arson.
this is right out of the muslim play book for take over.
Pity.
Gale force winds spread fire.
Aircrete, Adobe, and earthbag homes are fireproof.
_
Forest fires are bad because the fire can cause the tree to explode throwing burning shrapnel. The roots can spread the fire underground and it can suddenly pop up past the fire breaks dug by firemen.
You need only look up the Gatlinberg TN forest fire to see some very hairy escapes by car. A single downed tree on fire can block the road and people can suffocate and tires melt.
Same as some of the CA fires last year where houses and cars burned but not the trees. Strange.
Feel bad for the victims and their families. The sheer terror they must have gone through. It was described as “fires of biblical proportions.” Horrible way to die or lose a loved one. Sadly, many of the survivors will likely have lifelong respiratory problems.
Most country folks presume they would never bug out as everything they need is there, but fire can force you to flee and if you wait too long, you are screwed because then you can’t get out, but lie face down with a fire blanket while it passes over. That occassionally kills fire troopers who put out giant forest fires.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cI2sgyoiL1o
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FMnkmlrJ9GA
Can you picture a modern city burned to the ground. It’s not like the firemen can put down all the fires at once. If antifa or some extremist group went around with flamethrowers and molotovs they couldn’t do shit to stop it and it could happen in a blink of an eye in the form of a flash mob. Everyone is worried about the grid that’s small potatoes.jewish lightning
The news seems to be full of stories about droughts, flooding and fires. Today was the first day in a long time that you could see blue skies and sunshine.
It appears that there was A LOT of fuel there.
Air Temp and wind are beyond mans control.
Fuel load is not…..when was the last hazard reduction?
Fire services usually put out the good fires to show what they are there for.
However this ultimately is what brings upon any area a catastrophic fire when no one can really help.
Too many rules and Regs get in the way of decent burn offs and the public hates smoke.
Welcome to your man made Hell!
Tree huggers don’t understand controlled burns or thinning out trees for harvest to ensure growth.
If you were immortal, you would witness fungus breaking down rock, pools of water forming and debris collecting and rotting. That allows mosses to further break doen the rock. Eventually sand collects and nearby clay replicates and debris rots and decomposes to humus forming top soil. Then mushrooms gros, grasses, bushes, small sumac roots form crowns. Then the first pine trees, followed by various decidious saplings grow into trees.
There is a cycle of growth from meadow to various kinds of forests and thinning and burning accelerate the process. A good ecology class would explain that. People interested in agronomy ie the science of soil formation and botany and forestry are all passionate about these processes.
But hey, keep believing that just by random chance such marvelous myriad complex species and biochemcal events just happened.
Obviously YHWH did it.
When a house fire burns, then all manner of toxic brew is the fumes as plastics and cleaning agents are volitized by heat. Warning, know where your reloading supplies are and where spare ammunition is because that is dangerous with fires.
They are not just burning wood.
There is a marvelous scene in Far from the Maddening Crowd where Gabriel Oak, a shepherd, happens upon a major fire at a farm. The BARN is on fire and he knows that if the barn is lost, the whole farm is in peril because they will lose animals and harvested crops and tools, etc.
Imagine a postSHTF event and a farm’s barn is on fire and you have no way to pump water to put it out.
Those were controlled burns and were done by the American Indians. They were really just a thinning our of the under-brush or the under-growth. These controlled burns were closely monitored and supervised. They only took place during a certain time of the year within very narrow areas of a forest. The Indians knew that these burns allowed for increased air flow throughout the entire forest, and also added nutrients to the soil. These burns also concentrated animal life into easily harvested hunting grounds.
The US Park Service has been against clearing out forests of under-growth with controlled burns. As a result, the fuel that provides for these monster fires is over abundant. The chance that one of these controlled burns getting out of control is real.
Another concern among foresters (many of whom are fire fighters themselves), is that changing climate may have changed the cycle of forests (from birth — to death — to rebirth) to just death.
Research seems to indicate that forests are created and survive within a very narrow eco-system.
The Great Plains in the United States is one example. One theory is that the Great Plains was once “great forests” that burned down and did not return.
Another example are the rain forests that are being cut down in South America. Rain forests actually exist high up as an arboretum (a wide collection of plants, fungus, along with other plant and animal life that all thrives in the canopy of a rain forest), not close to the ground. Cut down the rain forest and that’s it.
Back in the United States, many of these forests that have burned down are not coming back. The climate that created them no longer exists.
That’s where current thinking on forests is.
I enjoyed reading that post. I hope you have the opportunity to see rain and cloud forests. I did that and it was magnificent yet mixed with gravitas and pathos as successive generations may not see them. You immediately are struck by the interconnectedness of all species in a rainforest just upon seeing leaf cutter ants bring out the remnants of the mushrooms they grew and watching new le,ves being carried to the nest. And this enrichens the soil creating humus.
In the Great Plains, the tall prairie grass may die out entirely and never come back. That land was never intended to grow crops. Certainly a new Dust Bowl could happen again due to the lack of rain, windbreaks, and poor agricultural practces.
Maranatha, WHO never intended the Great Plains for growing crops? Or what? You have to have some basis for saying that, such as a frame of reference. It’s just a line repeated over and over again, and not in fact, but like some mantra. Have you ever been to the Great Plains? I live on the southern part of them. I have also lived in the middle of them. I don’t know about this intended business at all, but I do know that Kansas and Missouri and Texas and Colorado, the Dakotas, Montana, are replete with massive grain and other crops, and are managed better than in the 30’s with no till being the operative word. The tall prairie grass does not feed a lot of the worlds population. But wheat grown in Texas and the Dakotas does. And droughts and floods come and go as they please. I also have spent a lot of time in rainforests, and the only thing mysterious I found in them is the question of which resident of the rainforest is going to kill you.
Did YHWH grow wheat in Kansas or men?
Well, it’s a shame that the rainforest had zero effect on you except fear of jaguars. I find that ridiculous. To me, it was like encountering the garden of Eden.
What is the POINT of feeding the whole world when they despise Americans and frankly are our enemies and take our industry away?
Honestly, some people cannot see the forest for the trees! You feed slave labor so they can create cheap products. How does that benefit America? It doesn’t at all but it does line your pockets.
Interesting read. Thanks for posting.
Familiar construction methods and zoning.
Very sad for those who lost their loved ones. A horrible event to even imagine.