'An unspeakable tragedy'

In Greece, 170 fires burning, 37 dead, and government shaken

Posted by Kit Stolz (Guest Contributor) at 2:22 PM on 26 Aug 2007

Read more about: severe weather | Greece

Over 170 fires are now burning in Greece. Mostly they are wildfires in the hills, but yesterday a fire broke out in Athens itself that required ten engines to quell. Thirty-seven have been killed, including several firefighters.

The prime minister has called the disaster "an unspeakable tragedy."

Temps reached 42 degrees Celsius, or about 108 degrees Fahrenheit, in Athens, according to the Associated Press.

The fires have been burning for weeks, and the conservative government has been bitterly criticized for its weak effort against them, reports the BBC. The death toll jumped from 28 to 37 overnight.

(photo: foivosloxias, licensed under Creative Commons)

Firefighters, too, have died, including the two in this plane, which slammed into a mountain after dropping a load of retardants on a wildfire in Evia.

For story: 'An unspeakable tragedy'
5 Comments | Post a Comment

Weather Not That Bad

According to weather.com

http://www.weather.com/outlook/travel/businesstraveler/mo ...

Only one day in Athens was higher than 100...and that was a 102F day.

I feel sorry for the people who died.

But it has nothing to do with global warming.

by jabailo at 3:21 PM on 26 Aug 2007

Classic problem

Measuring temperature would seem to be a simple thing but it turns out to be extremely complex. For example, Austin has two NWS official stations, several state air monitoring stations, and about 40 other reporting sites. The one at the new airport typically ready 6 degrees low because it is in a valley with a river next to it. It could be that the two sources of temperature data in Athens could have been correct at the same time.

I was in the monitoring business for years and you wouldn't believe the problems we had. Many met stations were improperly sited and had to be moved (e.g., next to a highway or an airport taxi-way). Then I said "let's put a mercury thermometer and two digitals in here and see what they say." Oh-oh, three different measurements. This has dire implications for measuring "average global temperature" and I'm sorry to be the bearer of bad news.

The big "hit" on global warming were NASA estimates of average annual temperatures in the Lower 48. It turns out, 1934 was the hottest year on record, not 1998. NASA is furious with a frequent critic and blogger about all this - which was a stupid math mistake.

Using any averages is extremely dangerous, and let's take a look at what they had in 1934 as opposed to today. Back then, mercury thermometers (calibrated in water of a known temperature) were used only in official measurement places in the US. Today there are hundreds of more computerized sensors out there - is there a geographic or measurement bias?

I would have to say yes.

Onward through the fog

by Sam Wells at 4:21 PM on 26 Aug 2007

The photo reminds of the one of St. Paul's

in London, through the smoke of WWII bombing.

--- G. R. L. Cowan, former H2 energy fan
Oxygen expands around boron fire, car goes --
http://www.eagle.ca/~gcowan/boron_blast.html

by GRLCowan at 6:25 PM on 26 Aug 2007

oops, wrong year

The AP story about forest fires in Greece that is linked here is dated August 20, 2006. The temperature in Athens on that day may very well have been accurately measured at 42 degrees Celsius.

This should just serve to remind us that southern European countries have a real annual fire season. Whether they have always had one, I do not know. I do not recall reading of forest fires in classical literature, though there may be a simile describing one in the Iliad. Also, there is a curious episode in Book 21 of the Iliad in which the god Hephaestus, whose divine power is expressed in fire, confronts the river god Scamander, called Xanthus by the gods, and forces him to beg for mercy. The description, which is not especially vivid, may have been based on actual experiences of how forest streams were dried up by great fires.

Also, we should pay attention to the government's search for alleged arsonists, or other fire-starters:

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/27/world/europe/27greece.h ...

Is the search for arsonists the government's tactic to turn criticism that they have done too little to prepare for the expected summer fires?

The first reports were coming from the town of Zaharo, on the western shore of the Peloponnese. It is not far south of the ancient site of Olympia, which is one of the world's greatest and most beloved archaeological sites. Reports that the fires are approaching there are not encouraging.

In the central Peloponnese is the region called Arcadia, which in antiquity was sparsely populated, and famed for its forested mountains and its shepherds. It was the original setting for the important genre of poetry that we call pastoral. Having never been to Greece, I do not know if there are many trees left there in the modern period. But if there are, it would be a pity were they destroyed by these flames.

Chickens deserve our true friendship! So do fish! So do other sentient beings! Let us learn to be kind.

by caniscandida at 9:22 PM on 26 Aug 2007

thoughts on the fires in Greece

We enjoyed our second visit to Greece earlier this summer, traveling throughout some of the hardest hit areas including Olympia, Aeropolis, and Arcadia. The fires are heartbreaking (we have family in the Peloponnese) and will be economically devastating to the country. We, of course, don't know whether or not the fires can be attributed to arson or global warming, or whether there were forest fires in antiquity or not(other than those set by the average maurading, raping/pillaging warrior), but today southern Greece is hot and dry with few running rivers, and, it is, it seems, a perfect tinderbox.

There are still beautiful forests in Arcadia, and the Taygetos mountains of the Mani, where the deadly fire in Aeropolis claimed multiple lives, are spectacular. And, of course, Greece is covered with the glistening silver of olive groves, many of them with thick, gnarled trees that are hundreds of years old.

Sitting on our porch in June, facing the Lakonian Gulf, the air was so hot and dry we called it the Saharan Blast because it seemed to be coming straight from the heart of the African desert. It could literally take your breath away. According to the local bank temp display, temperatures hit 104 F while we were there--and we spent most of our time in a village right on the sea. One can only hope that, with help from the EU, the fires will soon go out...

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by Kristina & Jason Makansi at 12:20 PM on 27 Aug 2007

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