'War' declared on Rhodes wildfires as 30,000 Britons left in limbo
Smoke rises from a wildfire on the island of Rhodes, Greece, July 23, 2023, in this picture obtained from social media.
Ted G. Bailos via Reuters
Rampant wildfires in Rhodes have left 5,000 Brits stranded, as the Foreign Office and holiday operators scramble to put on emergency repatriation flights.
A further 30,000 British holidaymakers with holidays booked find themselves in limbo, for hotels and resorts across the Greek islands have closed indefinitely.
The seventh day of wildfires in Greece, infernos have spread at an alarming rate, scorching the earth and herding humans towards the beaches.
Kyriakos Mitsotakis, the Greek prime minister, declared "war" on the fires yesterday and cautioned that this might only be the beginning.
A firefighting helicopter makes a water drop as a wildfire burns near the village of Archangelos, on the island of Rhodes, Greece, July 24, 2023.
Reuters/Nicolas Economou
He said: “Do not be fooled. It will be a difficult summer.”
More than 270 firefighters have been enlisted to douse the 82 wildfires currently surging across Greece, 64 of which started on Sunday.
On Monday night, Greek authorities issued an evacuation order for Kalathos, a popular region on the island of Rhodes.
The wildfires come as temperatures in Greece continue to soar over 40C, with forecasts warning that highs of 44C could take hold of the country on Wednesday.
Smoke rises from a wildfire on Corfu Island, Greece, July 23, 2023 in this still image obtained from social media video.
Julia Dzhyzhevska/via Reuters
The World Weather Attribution team estimated rising greenhouse gas concentrations has made the European heatwave 2.5C hotter than it otherwise would have been.
Izidine Pinto of the Royal Netherlands Meteorological Institute said: “European and North American temperature would have been virtually impossible without the effects of climate change.”
However, Rhodes fire brigade has suggested the fire on the island may have been started by an arson attack.
Thousands have also been moved from hotels on Corfu and the island of Evia, while Crete has been placed on red alert.
A fire brigade official has said: “The fires have rekindled across the country but no settlements are being threatened for now.”
Flames and smoke rise as a wildfire burns near the village of Asklipieio, on the island of Rhodes, Greece, July 24, 2023.
Reuters/Nicolas Economou
Jet2, Britain’s biggest holiday company, put on four emergency flights on Monday night, while Tui announced an extra repatriation flight on Tuesday morning for the 1,000 British tourists it has stranded in Greece.
Tui, like most other operators, are offering free cancellations or rebookings to other destinations.
The Dutch foreign ministry has issued a travel warning for Rhodes, Corfus and Evia.
However, ministers in the UK have weathered calls to bring in Foreign Office advice warning against all but essential travel to the affected parts of Rhodes.
Tourists sleep as others line up at check-in counters, while waiting for departing planes at the airport, after being evacuated following a wildfire on the island of Rhodes, Greece, July 24, 2023.
Reuters/Nicolas Economou
Instead, Rishi Sunak told stranded holidaymakers to reach out to their travel company for guidance.
Sunak said: “There are lots of flights going back and forth to be able to bring people home, and if people are in touch with their tour operators, they will get the information that they need.”
The Foreign Office said: “We have sent a Rapid Deployment Team to Rhodes. The team is supporting British nationals at the airport by assisting with emergency travel documents and liaising with travel operators and Greek authorities.”
GREECE FIRES LATEST:
- Rhodes wildfires 'caused by arson' say Greek firefighters after XR blames climate change
- EasyJet and RyanAir keep flying tourists to holiday hell in Rhodes as wildfires force biggest evacuation in Greek history
- Thousands of tourists urgently evacuated from hotels in British holiday hotspot as wildfires rage out of control
A false colour satellite image, which uses the infrared signature of the fire, shows the area affected by wildfires in Rhodes, Greece, July 23, 2023.
European Union/Copernicus Sentinel-2/Handout via Reuters
An aviation source familiar with the talks told The Times: “The big tour operators with their own planes seem to be doing their best in a very challenging environment.
“It’s people with the little guys who are going to be left waiting the longest as their holiday companies look for empty seats to get them home. There simply isn’t loads of spare capacity [off the island].”
Meanwhile, another travel industry source told The Times: “Tour operators are, understandably, looking at this week and next but very soon they will need to start making decisions about August . . . while most hotels will be able to reopen, at least in part, it will not be the case for all.
"Some will be closed for the rest of the season. Any suggestion it will be business as usual in a week or so is futile.”
A satellite image shows wildfire in Rhodes, Greece, July 23, 2023.
Planet Labs PBC/Handout via Reuters
Ryanair and easyJet continue to operate on the route to Rhodes, though Jet2, Tui and some easyJet flights have been cancelled.
Friederike Otto, a scientist with the Grantham Institute for Climate Change in London, said: “The events we have looked at are not rare in today’s climate.”
She added: “As long as we keep burning fossil fields we will see more and more of these extremes.”
There are indications from the Greek Fire Service that some of the fires might have been started by arson.