Fires in Greece
Fires in Greece
23 August 2009
Dozens of wildfires broke out across Greece. A large wildfire raged out of control on the outskirts of Athens on Saturday, burning several homes and thousands of acres of forest.
Greek authorities declared a state of emergency after the fire, which broke out late Friday in the village of Grammatiko, about 40 km (25 miles) northeast of the Greek capital, spread to neighboring villages and threatened Athens’ northern suburbs.
The fires north of Athens were reported in an area more than 25 miles (40 kilometers) wide, and forced authorities to evacuate two large children’s hospitals, camp sites, villages and outlying suburban areas threatened by blazes that sent huge clouds of smoke over the capital and scattered ash on city streets.
Satellite images of MODIS show large smoke plumes on 21 – 23 August 2009:
21 August 2009
22 August 2009
23 August 2009
The large images provided above are at spatial resolution (level of detail) of 250 meters per pixel.
(source: MODIS)
The current situation in Greece is covered by a number of detailed reports (see GFMC Media web page):
- Bushfire inferno blazes near Athens (published by www.abc.net.au, 23 August 2009)
- Bushfire reaches Athens suburbs (published by www.news.com.au, 23 August 2009)
- Wildfires approach Athens, hospitals evacuated (published by www.google.com, 23 August 2009)
- Greek forest fire rages near Athens, damages homes (published by www.reuters.com, 22 August 2009)
