Forest fires are burning inside ancient Olympia.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Fight to save Olympic birthplace

 

 

The Greek fires are seen from space in this Nasa picture

 

 

Map of affected areas

 

 

The hill of Kronos, overlooking Olympia, was engulfed by fire

 

"This is complete hell. The front is 30km long and has now reached the first houses"

Petros Filippou Mayor of Kalyvia, Athens

 

Read more at BBC.

 

Authorities in Greece have intensified efforts to find out what caused forest fires that have left more than 60 dead.

Edited August 27, 2007 by ASCLEPIADES

[Nephele]

It's terrible, and it appears that the fires may have been deliberately started. I heard today from my dear friend Pavlos who lives in Athens and I was relieved to hear that he and his family are okay. But they were just on holiday and Pavlos tells me that most of the beautiful places they visited just last week, including Olympia and the ancient forests of Ilia, are now reduced to ashes. Pavlos was driving past burning trees, cars, and animals on his return home yesterday. He says that what's happening in Greece is their equivalent of the U.S.'s 9/11 and Hurricane Katrina disasters.

 

-- Nephele

[Lost_Warrior]

Oh no!!!

 

How sad?? That's just awful!!!

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve!

There is currently a bitter argument over Greek and international media about the possibility that fire-fighters resources may have been deviated to archaeological patrimony with significant detriment for the security of common habitants; vg, from an interview of Giorgios Aidonis, Olympia's major.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Retrieved from "http://en.wikinews.org/wiki/Greece_on_fire%2C_death_toll_exceeds_60":

 

August 27, 2007

Fires continue to burn in Greece on Monday destroying everything in their path. Death toll has exceeded 60 with daily Greek newspapers Kathimerini and Ta Nea reporting reporting 61 and 63 deaths respectively. Ancient Olympia, birthplace of the Olympics, was also threatened but firefighters kept the site safe. The new museum of Olympia was saved in the last minute but part of the ancient stadium was not spared. The Greek Government has offered a 1 million Euro reward for anyone providing information which leads to the arrest of an arsonist. A Greek government statement read: "The reward is set between 100,000 and 1m euros for every [act] of arson, depending on whether death or serious injury occurred and the size of the damage."

The Greek government is under severe criticism for not doing enough to combat the raging fires. Greek newspaper Ta Nea is reporting that the government is facing collapse accusing it of lacking an organized plan to combat the fires. It adds that there are tens of reports resulting from witnesses that demonstrate the ad hoc movement of fire fighting forces but also tragically, an absence of a plan for evacuating villages resulting in the unnecessarily increased death toll.

Emergency workers and fire-fighting planes from other European Union countries have joined the battle against the fires, and more help is expected from countries outside the EU.

 

List of affected areas Updated on August 26, 2007 at 22:00

Arta: Under partial control.

Pella: Kleisohori village in flames.

Evros: Mikrakio in flames.

Ilia: New fires in Prasidaki, Bartholomio, Makistos, Sekoula, Lalas, Leprea, Fanari.

Messenia: Fires rage on in Tavgeto, Finikounta, Metaksades, Diavolitsi.

Laconia: Fronts in the areas of: Geraki, Kallithea, Platanaki, Palaioxori, Oitilos, Aeropoli.

Evia: Aliveri, Mesoxori, Traxili, Kremastos, Mistogeronta, Farana, Partheni, Gaia, Manikia.

Zakynthos: Fire in Alikana.

Arkadia: Araxomites, Asea, Leontari, Mavriki, Makrisi.

Corinth: Improvement in sofiko, fires still burning in Kalentzi, Halki, Soulinari, Agia Triada, Milea.

Argolis: Fire burning in the area of Lefkakia.

Phthiotis: Perivoli, Asvestis, Dilofo, Zilefto.

Thesprotia: Under partial control the fire in Tsamanda.

Viotia: Kanalaki, Mazi.

Corfu: New fire in the area of porta.

 

Sources

Γιάννης Λ. Πολίτης (Yannis L. Politis) "Κατάρρευση (Collapse)". Ta Nea Online, August 27, 2007

"Greek forest fires reward offered". BBC, August 27, 2007

"Μαίνεται η πύρινη κόλαση σε Πελοπόννησο και Εύβοια (Hellfire continues in the Peloponnese and Evia]". Kathimerini, August 27, 2007

[ASCLEPIADES]

Ephemeris

Martis die 28 mensis Augusti 2007

 

in orbe

 

Post immania incendia, quae Peloponnesum, Acticam paeninsulam et Euboeam diu vastaverunt, et LX hominum mortem ob fumum atque aestum, Graecorum moderatores accurate requirunt, utrum forte an scelerata voluntate facinora ista tempore eodem evenerint.

 

- 27/08/2007 22h16

[Kosmo]

Is there any ancient source to report forest fires this size?

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve!

 

 

Smoke rises Sunday in ancient Olympia, close to the archaeological site in western Peloponnese, Greece.

 

 

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- A small fleet of foreign planes and helicopters is buzzing around Greece to try to battle dozens of wildfires that have killed at least 64 people. In five days of blazes, the destruction is so extensive authorities say they have no way of knowing how many acres have burned and how many people have been injured. Some 56 new fires broke out yesterday and today, tearing through olive groves, forests, orchards and homes. Flames are swarming near the birthplace of the Olympic Games in Ancient Olympia. One fire official says there are signs of optimism in that fight. Greeks were already stunned by deadly forest fires in June and July, and many are blaming the conservative government for failing to respond quickly enough.

The government, which declared a state of emergency over the weekend, said arson might have been the cause of the fires, and several people have been arrested.

 

Read more...

Edited August 28, 2007 by ASCLEPIADES

[ASCLEPIADES]

Salve! From www.slate.com :

 

Are Ancient Ruins Flammable? What happens when there's a wildfire in Greece.

By Michelle Tsai Posted Monday, Aug. 27, 2007, at 6:35 PM ET

 

Firefighters in Greece narrowly saved the ruins of Olympia from the wildfires that spread across the nation* over the weekend. The blaze torched the edges of the stadium, but officials say the archaeological treasure survived. Can ancient ruins catch on fire?

No, but they can crumble from the heat. Greek ruins made of limestone or marble aren't going to burst into flames, but they can undergo physical and chemical changes when subjected to the heat of burning vegetation nearby. The outside layers of an ancient building heat up faster than the inside, causing the surface to crack and fall off in dinner plate-sized chunks. At about 1,000 degrees Fahrenheit, the rocks begin to release carbon dioxide. (Trees ignite at about 660 degrees, and wildfires can reach 1,800 degrees.) Since CO2 helps hold limestone and marble together, sustained heat can weaken the material until it's reduced to powder.

Olympia sits in the middle of a dense pine forest, which provides plenty of kindling for a fire. (Some ruins have wooden scaffolding to support ancient walls; these can also be set ablaze.) To protect the site from fire during the dry Greek summers, engineers had installed 50-foot metal fire towers in the hills to the north.

Earlier buildings from the archaic period

[Lost_Warrior]

Firefighters in Greece narrowly saved the ruins of Olympia from the wildfires that spread across the nation* over the weekend. The blaze torched the edges of the stadium, but officials say the archaeological treasure survived.

 

Yay!!

[ASCLEPIADES]

Ephemeris - Nuntii Mercurii die 29 mensis Augusti 2007

 

IN GRAECIA FIERI INCENDIA INFERNALIA

 

"Inferna sunt ubique"

 

Ex oppido Zacharo refert Gerd H

[ASCLEPIADES]

 

... monumentorum antiquorum flammae flagrabant vehementissim

Edited August 29, 2007 by ASCLEPIADES

[ASCLEPIADES]

Satellite images show how the intensity of the fires is changing

 

 

Thousands of Greeks have been queuing at banks to collect government aid handed out in response to the country's worst forest fires for decades. Some 7,500 people reportedly withdrew 24m euros ($33m;

[ASCLEPIADES]

Last Greek fire under control

 

ATHENS, Greece (AP) -- The last major fire in southern Greece has been brought under control after flaring up again over the weekend, fire officials said Sunday.

 

Officials also said two other big fires were completely extinguished, leaving only minor fires smoldering in the area.

The blazes had been largely contained for several days but firefighters struggled to prevent them from rekindling and causing more damage. Two villages were evacuated and 23 people were rescued by helicopter Saturday after one fire restarted in Greece's southern Peloponnese region.

 

Nine firefighting planes and two helicopters helped contain that blaze on Mount Parnon, Sunday. Two other fires outside the towns of Megalopoli and Karytaina were out.

Meanwhile, rain was reported across much of northern Greece, with flooding on the Halkidiki peninsula, but it had not reached any areas affected by fires.

 

Fires have destroyed an estimated 190 hectares (469,000 acres) of mostly forest and farmland over the past 10 days, prompting a massive relief effort but also criticism of Greece's government for allegedly responding to the crisis slowly and failing to safely evacuate villages before they were burned.

The death toll rose to 65, Sunday, after a man seriously burned in a fire on the island of Evia died in a hospital.

 

Also funeral services were held for a mother and her four children who were killed outside the southern village of Artemida while trying to flee the fires by car on August 24. Four other people also died in the same convoy of cars when it became trapped in flames.

Authorities have not released any damage assessment, but an estimated 4,000 people lost their homes, according to independent estimates based on claims for assistance by individuals and local authorities.

[ASCLEPIADES]

Fire-damaged Olympia to be reforested

 

Wed Sep 5, 3:34 PM ET

 

ATHENS (AFP) - The Greek Olympic Committee said Wednesday it had accepted an offer from Israel for experts and 10,000 trees to help repair damage caused by fires on Olympia, the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games.

 

Greece's President Karolos Papoulias also accepted a proposal from the German city of Munich to reforest the Cronius hill above Olympia which was sacred to ancient Greeks.

 

Singed by a 12-day fire inferno that killed 65 people around the country, Olympia needs to spruce up ahead of the lighting ceremony of the Olympic flame for the 2008 Games in Beijing.

 

"(There is) an international effort to restore beauty to the landscape of ancient Olympia ahead of the lighting ceremony in March," the Olympic committee said

 

Sequitur