Largest Wildfire Ever Recorded in the EU Caused by Arson, Not Climate
By M Dowling
Greece is battling “the largest wildfire ever recorded” in the European Union. The bloc has mobilized almost half of its firefighting air wing to help tackle it, a European Commission spokesman said Tuesday.
Eleven planes and one helicopter from the EU fleet have been sent to help Greece counter the fire raging in the Dadia National Park, along with 407 firefighters, EU spokesman Balazs Ujvari said.
Greece’s fire service told the AFP news agency that “the fire is still out of control” in the nature reserve, a major sanctuary for birds of prey. It is raging across a nearly six-mile front.
The fires are getting more severe.
CBS reports that Greece has been ravaged by numerous fires this summer, which the government attributes to climate change, CBS News reports.
The Hawaiian government also attributed the Maui fires to climate change. The energy company said sparks from a downed pole caused the fire. However, the fire department went to the site and put the fire out. They did not have anyone remain to ensure it was out, and it restarted. That is the conclusion as to how the Maui catastrophe began. The cause had nothing to do with climate change. The weather did affect it. There were winds, but that’s weather, not climate change.
IT WAS ARSON
One man was arrested on the island of Evia, Greece and accused of setting fire to dried grass. The fire department said the man confessed to having set four other fires in the area in July and August.
On Thursday last week, police arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of arson for allegedly setting at least three fires in the Avlona area. A search of his home revealed kindling, a fire torch gun, and pine needles, police said.
Greece has been plagued by daily outbreaks of dozens of fires over the past week as gale-force winds and hot, dry summer conditions combined to whip up flames and hamper firefighting efforts.
Again, it appears the weather made the situation worse, but that’s not climate change. The cause of the fire appears to be arson.
Even if it was climate change, which it’s not, we can’t stop it. There is no correlation between carbon dioxide and these fires.
Fires have raged for 11 days.
Seventeen people died, thousands of lives were ruined, and over 321,000 acres of land destroyed – so far.
“Fires in Greece: 13 Pakistani and Syrian migrants charged with attempted arson in Evros,” Greek City Times, August 24, 2023.
