Hundreds of people were evacuated from villages on the Greek island of Chios on Tuesday as wildfires raged on for a third day.
Local authorities have declared a state of emergency as hundreds of firefighters continue to battle wildfires on the island, which is in the middle of its tourist season.
Some 444 firefighters assisted by eight aircraft have been deployed to the island in the Aegean Sea to tackle fires that have torn through swathes of forest and agricultural land since Sunday.
The ongoing flames have caused significant disruption, including power outages, water shortages, and damage to property. Fire services hope to prevent the fire reaching areas famous for producing mastiha, a natural resin harvested from mastic trees.
Authorities issued a new alert on Tuesday, advising residents of a seaside village in the south west of the island to leave as white smoke rose over a nearby beach. Greece’s public broadcaster live streamed scenes of a helicopter spraying water over the area.
A Greek fire brigade official, who requested anonymity, told Reuters that “a lot of work is still needed to bring the wildfires under control”. Northerly winds were complicating firefighting efforts, they added.
Greece’s minister of climate crisis and civil protection, Yiannis Kefalogiannis, arrived to the island on Monday.
He said: “The situation on the island since yesterday has been quite difficult because we constantly have new fronts and resurgences and the climatic conditions are not favourable.
“We are faced with simultaneous fires in multiple, geographically unconnected parts of the island — a pattern that cannot be considered coincidental,” he added.
Authorities, he said, were “very seriously examining the possibility of an organised criminal act, in other words arson.”
The minister said police forces on the island had been reinforced, while military patrols had been doubled.
“Whoever thinks that they can play with the lives of citizens and cause chaos with premeditated actions will be led to court,” Mr Kefalogiannis said. “Arson is a serious crime and will be dealt with as such.”
Greece is often hit by wildfires during its hot and dry summers, although experts have blamed climate change for fuelling more destructive flames in recent years.
The Independent has contacted the Foreign Office for more information.
Athens has paid out hundreds of millions of euros in damages related to extreme weather to households and farmers and to update firefighting equipment.
It has hired a record 18,000 firefighters this year in anticipation of a challenging fire season.
