Strong Winds Hinder Crete Wildfire Fight as Risks Persist

RETHYMNO- Greek firefighters continued battling a major wildfire on the island of Crete on Friday as strong winds and difficult terrain hampered efforts to contain the blaze, despite signs that conditions had improved, authorities said.

A fire department spokesperson said the situation around the southern part of Rethymno had become more stable but cautioned that the fire remained uncontained. Numerous hotspots continued to burn, requiring sustained firefighting efforts to prevent the flames from spreading further.

Wildfires were also active on the Aegean islands of Paros, Kalymnos and Andros. Fire service officials said conditions on those islands had also improved, although emergency crews remained deployed to monitor and suppress the remaining fires.

According to meteo.gr, the weather service of the National Observatory of Athens, approximately 4,500 hectares (11,120 acres) of land were burned during Wednesday and Thursday south of the tourist town of Rethymno. The estimate was based on satellite imagery analyzed through the European Union’s Copernicus Earth observation program.

Firefighters continued to face significant operational challenges. Strong and persistent winds, combined with mountainous terrain, complicated ground operations and increased the risk of the fire changing direction.

Fire brigade spokesperson Vassilis Vathrakogiannis said dense smoke and powerful winds had severely limited aerial firefighting operations. He said the conditions created near-zero visibility and dangerous turbulence, making water-dropping missions by aircraft extremely difficult and, at times, impossible, particularly over Crete.

Authorities have placed firefighters and civil protection services across Greece on heightened alert as wildfire risks remain elevated nationwide. Greece’s Civil Protection agency classified much of the country, including the Athens region, Crete, several Aegean islands and parts of the Peloponnese, as facing a “very high” wildfire threat on Friday, the second-highest level on the national five-tier warning scale.

Vathrakogiannis said Greece’s geography, with hundreds of inhabited and uninhabited islands, complicates the rapid deployment of emergency personnel and equipment during large-scale wildfire emergencies. Additional firefighting resources have been sent to Crete to reinforce local crews.

Greek authorities ordered the evacuation of around 8,000 residents and tourists from the coastal resort of Agia Galini on Wednesday as the fire advanced toward populated areas. Most evacuees have since returned to their homes and hotels as conditions improved and the island’s peak summer tourism season continued.

Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis warned on Thursday that Greece was entering what is traditionally the most challenging period of the wildfire season. While the country had largely avoided the extreme heatwaves and widespread fires experienced earlier this summer in countries such as France and Spain, he said August has historically presented the highest wildfire risk.

Fire officials also warned that weather conditions were expected to deteriorate in the coming days, raising concerns that existing fires could intensify or new blazes could break out.

The current wildfire emergency has taken a heavy toll on Greece’s firefighting services. According to Greek authorities, three firefighters have died this week while responding to wildfires in Crete and the Peloponnese, underscoring the dangers faced by emergency crews during one of the country’s most challenging fire seasons in recent years.