Evia island residents forced to evacuate due to wildfire

On the Greek island of Evia, the second biggest island of Greece, thousands of people have been evacuated due to the uncontrollable wildfire.

The blaze grew quickly and spread through the northern part of a forest, reaching five different villages, and forcing everyone to flee their homes.

Many ferries were kept on standby for the villagers to escape. The elderly were carried into the ferries and other people tried to escape to the coast by foot overnight.

This wildfire has been burning for the sixth day on Sunday, and since Tuesday, more than 2,000 people have been evacuated by the coastguard.

Previously, there was a heatwave going on for a week, which was Greece’s worst one in three decades. Due to this, the wildfire began, destroying countless of homes, businesses and forest land.

Heatwaves like this are becoming more likely because of climate change.

22 countries, 11 of them being a part of the EU, have all responded to the call of help and provided aid, like sending firefighting aircrafts.

In response, the Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis was grateful and tweeted a thank you message to the 22 countries that sent help.