The European Union had never experienced such large fires. This was stated on Tuesday, August 29, by a spokesperson for the European Commission. Declared on August 19 and having already burned 81,000 hectares, according to the European observatory Copernicus (EMS), the fire which ravages the national park of Dadia, in the northeast of Greece, is “the largest fire ever recorded in the EU”. As proof, the Twenty-Seven are currently mobilizing almost half of the common European air resources, he specified.

A total of 11 planes and a helicopter from the European fleet have been sent to help Greece fight the flames in this park, with 407 firefighters, said spokesman Balazs Ujvari. The EU has a fleet of 24 planes and 4 helicopters provided by Member States to fight fires in the EU and neighboring countries. It is working to create an EU-funded autonomous air wing of twelve aircraft, which will be fully operational by 2030.

Greek firefighters have already been battling this historic fire for eleven consecutive days, which is ravaging the forest in this park of the European Natura 2000 network, known to be home to many birds of prey. The fire, which spans a front of almost 10 kilometers, is “still out of control”, said a spokesman. According to the firefighters, three outbreaks remain problematic and must still be extinguished in Evros, on the Greek-Turkish border, 860 kilometers from Athens.

Nearby, the department of Rhodopes is also facing renewed fires. A total of 475 firefighters with 100 vehicles, six planes and four helicopters are mobilized Tuesday on these two fronts.

The vegetation is so dense in this region that the flames are often not visible, and the water thrown by the firefighters often does not reach the hearths which are burning on the ground, say the rangers of the region.

Last week, 20 people were found charred, mostly migrants, including two children, near Alexandroupoli, capital of Evros, along with a shepherd who died trying to save his flock in a central region of Greece.

Composed mainly of black pines (Pinus nigra) and Scots pines (Pinus brutia) mixed with oaks, Dadia Park is best known for its birds of prey. Three of the four European species of vulture are present: the black vulture (Aegypiusmonachus), the griffon vulture (Neophron percnopterus) and the Egyptian vulture (Gyps fulvus), according to the Greek Association of Ornithologists.

Recalling a large fire that hit Dadia in 2011, ranger Dora Skartsis says “everything that has regenerated since has been lost” in recent days. “If we take into account the forest areas burned by the fire in southern Evros, we are talking about a huge ecological disaster. The picture is tragic,” said the expert who heads the Thracian Biodiversity Protection Society.

The Dadia forest is vital for the local economy, as it supports logging, beekeeping and tourism activities in the department of Evros, one of the poorest in the country. In the municipality of Alexandroupoli alone, more than 4,000 sheep and goats were burned, as well as 50 sheepfolds, according to first estimates, while warehouses containing animal feed were also destroyed, according to Kostas Dounakis, president of the local Association of Breeders. “All the pasture has been burned, the whole area has been destroyed and the animals have nowhere to graze… All this creates a very high cost for the herders”, he lamented on the public television channel Ert. .

Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis met on Tuesday with several ministers to discuss the reforestation needed after the fires in the Evros region and on Mount Parnès. The Minister of the Environment, Theodoros Skylakakis, announced that anti-flooding works must begin in the regions concerned to avoid landslides with the first rains of autumn.

Compensation for breeders and farmers, as well as for residents who have lost their homes are planned.

Like the countries around the Mediterranean, Greece has been plagued by numerous fires this summer that the government blames on climate change. “This is the most difficult summer in terms of climatic conditions, which makes the work of the authorities […] much more difficult,” Pavlos Marinakis said on Monday.

More than 120,000 hectares have been burned so far across the country, according to estimates by the Greek National Observatory, three times the annual average since 2006, for its part noted the EMS.