Mega-Fires in Greece (2007)

Synonyms

Greek fires; Mega-fires; Very large wildfires

The fire management policy in Greece toward the summer of 2007

Forest fire is a major natural hazard in southern Europe, which is often directly related to climate change and anomalies of meteorological conditions, in particular increased temperature and scarcity of rainfall. Long dry periods combined with other extreme weather conditions contribute to the development of forest fires that in most cases originate by anthropogenic activity and often turn into very large conflagrations. Such fires can easily burn down large forest areas, as evident in particular in the Mediterranean region.

Greece is one of the EU countries most affected by the forest fires. Areas approximately 1,850,000 ha in size have been burned between 1955 and 2007, out of which 30% was burned during the last 7 years of this period. Up to 1973, fires used to occur with a relative low frequency and the average per annum area burned was 11,500 ha. One third of this...