Wildfires sine 2017 destroyed 37% of forest area around Athens

By Ahmet Gencturk

ATHENS (AA) – Greek wildfires over the last seven years have destroyed over one-third of the forest area in the Attica region, which includes the capital Athens and the adjacent port city of Piraeus, according to new data.

Thirteen mega wildfires from 2017 to this Aug. 13 burned an area as big as some 700,000 stremmas (nearly 173,000 acres) of the region’s total area of 2.5 million stremmas (617,763 acres), or 37%, said a Tuesday statement from the National Observatory of Athens based on data from the EU Copernicus’ service.

More specifically, of the 1.25 million stremmas (308,882 acres) in forest areas in the region, 450,000 stremmas (111,197 acres) were destroyed by fires in the last eight years, according to the observatory

The fire that broke out in northeastern Athens on Sunday has so far ravaged an area of 96,000 stremmas (23,700 acres) as of Tuesday noon, it added.​​​​​​​