Corinthia wildfire stretches 32 km in length and remains uncontained

The large wildfire near Xylokastro in eastern Corinthia, in the Peloponnese, which broke out on Sunday and claimed the lives of two people, has not been brought under control, fire service spokesperson Vasilis Vathrakogiannis has told Kathimerini.

According to Vathrakogiannis, the fire broke out at 10 a.m. on Sunday, but strong winds, reaching force 8, caused the it to spiral out of control.

“The fire has a large perimeter and is spreading through mountainous areas in the Municipality of Evrostini-Xylokastro. However, we are not dealing with a single front,” said Vathrakogiannis, who added that it could be tomorrow before the fire is brought under control: “It seems that today we will not be able to declare the fire as having been contained. That is a conversation we can have from tomorrow.”

Furthermore, the president of the Panhellenic Federation of Fire Service Employees, Nikos Lavranos, told Kathimerini that the fire front has reached 32 km in length.

“This is one of the most difficult fires we have faced this season, with the front stretching 32 kilometers, even though it is not continuous,” he stated.

The authorities have ordered the evacuation of half a dozen villages, while two people lost their lives due to the fire.

The fire service has deployed 350 firefighters with 110 vehicles and 18 aircraft (seven planes and eleven helicopters) to the scene. On Monday afternoon, 13 additional vehicles from the Western Macedonia region joined the firefighting effort.

Two firefighters were slightly injured. One sustained minor respiratory issues, while the second was injured in the eye by the force of the water spray.