Evros: new satellite image of the disaster – more than 80 thousand hectares of forest burned

New satellite data from the Copernicus Rapid Mapping Service on the Evros fire became available today, the largest forest fire in Europe in many years.

According to their analysis, the total area scorched by the forest fire in Evros, which resulted from the confluence of the fires in Alexandroupoli and Dadia, exceeds 808 thousand strems or 80,800 hectares (until 08/28/2023, 12:28 local time).

Visualization of the burnt area was carried out by the METEO division of the National Observatory of Athens.

https://rua.gr/news/prireco/57274-najdena-eshche-odna-zhertva-pozharov-v-lesu-dadiya.html

“Dadi Forest Won’t Return”
It is also noted that the chairman of the department of forestry and the natural environment of the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki, Alexandros Dimitrakopoulos, expressed fears that after the fire, the Dadia forest “will no longer be the way we knew it.” Speaking to radio station RES – MPE, Mr. Dimitrakopoulos said: “We will not be able to have the Dadia ecosystem again. We cannot include this ecosystem in the total loss of 1,500,000 strems (150,000 ha) of forest area that was burned. This is something unique “.

Mr. Dimitrakopoulos explained that the Dadia forest area is a protected NATURA network, which means it is unique. There is nothing like it in any other area of ​​Europe, and this is due to the unique conditions that created it.

“This forest is gone. The black vultures, white vultures and vultures that used to nest and breed in this forest have either burned out or disappeared. They won’t come back. And this forest will not return in this form. It was a primeval black pine forest, consisting of very old trees with flattened tops, which means that we need 100-150 years to bring these trees into such a shape that black vultures will fly in and start nesting there again, ” – he said.

https://rua.gr/news/prireco/57330-11-j-den-ognennogo-ada-v-evrose.html

A professor at the Department of Forestry at the Aristotle University of Thessaloniki said: “It’s amazing that we’ve been fighting for 10 days, and the fire keeps burning and burning. Those who are involved in extinguishing should see this.”

He himself wonders why forest firefighters do not have a primary say in fighting a forest fire: “Forest firefighters are their job, and this is what they prepare for all year round. Now I can’t understand why they don’t participate in this” . He even points to a general restructuring of the fire prevention and extinguishing system. And it offers the active participation of the regular forest service and local authorities.

“It is important to create a separate unified body to fight forest fires, in which the fire brigade, the forestry service and local authorities will participate on an equal footing. However, the main role should belong to the forest service, since the forest is its home”he emphasized.

https://rua.gr/news/sobmn/49584-pravitelstvo-tolko-70-dadiya-sozhzheno.html

Hard day ahead in Evros

Dimitrakopoulos expressed strong concern about the next day in the region in connection with the onset of autumn: “Especially for Evros, I am very afraid that we will have extensive floods, mainly in the lowlands, with a lot of mud. Because the national park has not burned already for many years. And it has both organic matter and dense soil – this is the first quality of the place that we foresters talk about, and all this soil with rains will fall down and flood the villages and fields. “

“The good thing,” he added, “is that in this case the height differences are small, the terrain is somewhat softer.”

https://rua.gr/news/prireco/57289-minute-video-s-evrosa-gde-vosmoj-den-pozhar-prevrashchaet-vse-v-pepel.html

Evros has the biggest fire in history EU“

The Commission claims that the Alexandroupoli fire is the largest recorded fire in the EU since 2000, when the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) started recording data.

Responding to the largest wildfires in EU history, we've activated a massive #rescEU operation in Greece.

🛩️ 11 firefighting planes
🚁 1 helicopter
👩‍🚒 407 firefighters
🚒 62 vehicles

In addition, in response to this weekend's explosion in Romania, 12 severe burn patients were… pic.twitter.com/dO0OW14r2x

— European Commission (@EU_Commission) August 29, 2023

Crisis Management Commission spokesman Balazs Uivari, who provided the figures, said that Europe has mobilized 11 fire planes and six helicopters from six member countries under the rescEU mechanism, but that such fires require either an order of magnitude more fire equipment of the current capacity, or the use of much more powerful systems, such as the Russian BE-200 or IL-76. However, this is impossible, due to the actual participation of Greece in the war against Russia.

For example: in 2023, according to the spokesman, the Emergency Coordination Center mobilized 1 fire plane and 1 helicopterhosted in 6 EU member states. In addition, 6 European countries have provided 6 ground teams for fighting forest fires through the EU civil protection mechanism. As is known, the effectiveness of extinguishing large forest fires in mountainous areas by ground forces is approaching zero.

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