Clearly better than last year, which was marked by a failure Fire in Northern Evia – this was the report for 2022. The total fire area this year was about 223,000 hectares. The most important fires were his Dadia forestin which part of one of the two cores of the national park and Penteliswhich was also the most difficult to put out.

The report for the fire season (May 1 – October 31) 2022 was presented yesterday by the Minister of Civil Protection Christos Stylianides. During that time, 5,922 fires were brought to the fire station, he said, totaling 223,217 acres of fires. The seven largest wildfires occurred in July, burning 138,652 acres (62% of this year). The biggest fires this year were in Dadia Evrou (46,040 acres), Penteli Attika (27,817 acres), Polychnithos Lesbos (20,131 acres), Melampes in Rethymno (19,865 acres) and Amfissa in Fokida (12,000 acres).

The fire in Dadia, during which part of the national park burned down, and the fire in Penteli, which threatened residential areas, were the most difficult missions for civil protection.

In general, the number of fires increased by 3.1% compared to the period 2007-2021. However, as can be seen, the number of burnt areas was significantly less (-52.4%), on average for 2007-2021 at the level of 500,972 hectares. However, there were quite a few fires outside the fire season: up to May 1, there were about 3323 fires.

“112”

According to the ministry, “112” was called 43 times this year to warn of forest fires across the country, 35 of them for preventive evacuation of the population. The statistics of high-risk days (a combination of high temperatures and wind) is also interesting: 20 days in July and 12 days in August. Also, during the fire-fighting period, 2925 sorties and 7667 flight hours were performed, of which 1193 hours were for reconnaissance as part of strengthening prevention. In terms of ground guards, the most important development was the creation of a corps of 500 “forest commanders” (EMODE) and the doubling of the number of volunteer firefighters (4,000). The ministry singled out this year’s two fires as the most difficult. Fire in Dadia, during which part of one of the two cores of the national park and Penteli burned down. According to the ministry, Evros had the highest number of aircraft attempts and recorded the highest number of firefighting hours. Accordingly, there is a fire in Attica, due to the proximity of the front to residential areas, critical structures, hospitals, industrial enterprises, propane and natural gas facilities. It was an extremely difficult fire, according to the fire department, as the area was subject to very strong winds.