Thanasis Kontidis was hosing down the veranda of his family’s summer home in Mati on Monday afternoon when he caught a whiff of acrid smoke. “I looked up and saw the sky was a beige color so I knew there was a fire somewhere. But I didn’t realize it was getting close.” Half an hour later the 22-year-old university student was fleeing for his life. “The wind was gusting in different directions and there was an orange glow in the distance,” he says. “I soaked one of my mother’s scarves, tied it over my nose and mouth and grabbed my phone. Then I got in the car and tried to get away.”
But the narrow streets of the Greek seaside resort surrounded by pine forests were already jammed with vehicles rushing to escape the fire. Mr. Kontidis abandoned his car and started running towards the sea. A While he survived, 87 people were killed in the blazes in and around Athens, with 100 still missing. The blaze was unprecedented for Greece, officials say. But it is one of several freak fire and extreme heat events from Canada to Portugal and Japan over the past year that have raised alarm about the impact of changing weather patterns on people’s lives. Climate change is an “accelerant” for these fires, according to the scientists who study them, although it is not the only reason.
Urbanisation, changing land use patterns, the arrival of invasive species and even austerity are contributory factors. There have been more than 450 fires covering the land of more than 30 hectares in Europe so far this year, according to EU data, which is 40 percent higher than the average over the past decade.