Winds fuel fire flare-ups in Rhodes as state of emergency declared across island

Residents lament daily ‘pattern’ of fire flare-ups: ‘By the afternoon, the sky’s gone dark ... there’s smoke everywhere, and you can see it for miles’

Firefighters and civilians battling the nine-day wildfires ravaging Rhodes are contending with continuous flare-ups fuelled by unpredictable winds, as temperatures neared a scorching 40C.

Greece’s civil protection agency extended the state of emergency across the entirety of Rhodes on Wednesday, which will remain in place for six months, “to deal with emergencies and manage the consequences of catastrophic forestry fire”.

In the town of Malonas, which was evacuated on Saturday, The Independent watched on alongside exhausted volunteers as a section of the charred forest nearby reignited.

Volunteers watch on as a flare-up reignites near Malonas (Andy Gregory/The Independent)

The handful of volunteers gathered outside St George’s Church stood up to watch as a firefighting plane flew overhead, dousing the flames in water – as smoke continued to rise skywards.

They expected to venture out again alongside hundreds, if not thousands, of other civilians on Wednesday night to do what they could to keep the fires at bay – having fought back the flames as they encroached on the sleepy inland town just the night before.

“We have no energy, we have no power – not enough to stop this ... We are waiting for the wind to calm down to try again tonight to finish the job, but it is very difficult because after 10 days everyone is very tired,” a volunteer named Panos said, adding: “I’m going to sleep now for one hour.”

He spoke as firefighters were mobilised to the nearby village of Apollona, while fires also burned further south in Vati and Gennadi.

“The fires have started again,” a fire service official told The Independent. “A little wind and the fire returns … That’s the problem.”

A firefighting plane drops water on a flare-up near Malonas, Rhodes (Andy Gregory/The Independent)

A civilian drives through Malonas in a truck equipped with materials to fight the fires (Andy Gregory/The Independent)

Having been told to evacuate both Malonas and nearby Kalathos at the weekend, Miles and Tristan, both in their 50s and originally from England, returned to Tristan’s house in Malonas on Wednesday to bring his four cats home.

After receiving the “stressful” emergency alert telling them to leave Kalathos for either Kallithea – which they felt at the time was unsafe – or Lindos, where locals had already been told it was safe to return and where they knew a hotel manager who could put them up for the night.

“Even if we’re just camping down on sofas in the hotel reception, it’s shelter, whereas if we went to Kallithea we would literally be on the street,” said Tristan.

Speaking in the entrance to Tristan’s home as a firefighting plane flew overhead, dropping water a short distance away, the pair said they now planned to stay put. “We’re fed up with it now,” said Miles, an artist who has lived in Rhodes for 17 years.

Miles, a 56-year-old artist from England who has lived in Rhodes for 17 years, described a ‘pattern’ of daily flare-ups in recent days (Andy Gregory/The Independent)

Tristan added: “Also, now [the authorities] are willing to allow everyone to help [keep flare-ups at bay], whereas before they just didn’t want the complications of it – non-Greek speakers being where they are [with] no skills, no car. I haven’t even got boots. They said ‘what are you going to do: walk over the ground in trainers? They’re just going to melt.”

Describing a “pattern” of flare-ups each afternoon, Tristan said: “It’s been almost identical for three days, it’s really weird.” Miles added: “Clear in the morning. By the afternoon, the sky’s gone dark ... there’s smoke everywhere, and you can see it for miles.”

However, the skies remained clear as they spoke – prior to the individual flare-up witnessed by The Independent some 15 minutes later. “That’s why the helicopters are flying over now, they’re damping down near the edges to try and make sure it doesn’t come back,” said Miles.