?? Greece: the small coastal town of Mati “no longer exists”.

The death toll continues to rise. The death toll from the deadly fires in eastern Athens, Greece, rose to 79 on Wednesday, according to the fire service. Devastated by major fires since Monday, the small coastal town of Mati, located east of Athens in Greece, “no longer exists”. These are the words of the mayor of the port town of Rafina, situated a few kilometres away. The fire was fuelled by scrubland, which is particularly dense in the Mati area, a town dotted with pine trees. According to Nikos Bokaris, a water and forestry engineer, Mati had all the risk factors combined: scrubland and very old, very tall pine trees, fuelling the flames, and numerous houses at the foot of the trees. The area is densely and haphazardly built up. The fire therefore spread at breakneck speed, reaching the coast within a few hours. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=126&v=fulBv0eHtak

The European Civil Protection Mechanism has been activated:

Water-bombing aircraft from Spain and Croatia have been deployed since yesterday, whilst Bulgaria and Cyprus have also deployed ground-based forest fire-fighting teams. As part of regular exchanges with Greece, two French officers, who are specialists in ‘forest fires’, are working alongside the Greek Civil Protection Headquarters, providing their expertise and supporting their Greek counterparts. Source from the Home Office 24 July 2018.   Photo (AFP/ Savvas Karmaniolas)