The natural disaster caused by the June fires is enormous, and of course the forest loss from the ongoing Parnitha fire has yet to be measured. June this year was especially hot: fires broke out every day.
According to Charalambos Kontoes, research director at the Institute of Astronomy, Astrophysics, Space Applications and Remote Sensing (IAADET) of the National Observatory of Athens, “the total burnt area for June 2024 is more than 3 times the average of the last 14 years.” Charalambos Kontoes, speaking to ERT on the ERTNews program “Update,” cited figures for burned areas for 2024.
He noted that a similar outbreak over a 15-year period was seen in 2012, 2014 and 2016, with fires exceeding 4,000 hectares or 40,000 acres annually.
The expert scientist explained that June 2024 “was recorded as a very dry period in Greece, with high temperatures and minimal rainfall. A similar change in atmospheric conditions, with a significant increase in temperature and a simultaneous large decrease in rainfall, was also observed in the aforementioned years during the fire season.”
According to IAADET, the high-resolution risk map as of June 30 shows a particularly elevated risk in South Evia, Attica, Peloponnese, Crete, Rhodes, Western Greece, Pelion and the islands of the eastern and northeastern Aegean.
Daily forecast maps from IAADET are presented here: https://riskmap.beyond-eocenter.eu/
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