1 of 12 Rocco got lost in the smoke and was found days later with burns Photo: BBC Rocco got lost in the smoke and was found days later with burns Photo: BBC
On the edge of a burning forest in northeastern Greece, residents cried and screamed as flames raced down the hillside toward their homes.
“Send planes now, otherwise the fire will come here,” a man pleaded into the twilight sky.
⚠️The old group will be deactivated. Even if you are already part of our community, you will need To again.
Then, one by one, planes appeared through the smoke at the top of the hill and put out the fire. Hours later the flames started again.
For weeks, the people of Lefkimi felt helpless as nearly 1,000 km of the forest that provided their livelihood burned.
The forest is also a known route for migrants trying to enter Europe. A group of charred bodies were found piled up in the woods, with a handful of personal items leaving little clue as to who they might be.
The carcasses of countless animals are scattered around and the surviving animals have nowhere to go.
The community was told to get to safety, but many refused.
“Apocalyptic” and “unimaginable” were the words the Greeks used to describe the events in the Evros region. The fire started on August 19th, lasted more than two weeks and became… Largest forest fire ever recorded Europe.
There is anger and doubt among the population about the causes, the countermeasures and what needs to be done now but outside Greece there are warnings that forest fires are only getting bigger and more frequent.
Beside a dirt road that winds through the Dadia forest stands a burnt sign that reads: “The forest is precious. Protect it.” All around, the earth is scorched and the blackened trees remain stripped of their leaves.
2 of 12 In the village of Lefkimi, a father hugs his teenage son and murmurs words of comfort Photo: BBC In the village of Lefkimi, a father hugs his teenage son and murmurs words of comfort Photo: BBC
The smoke clings to clothing and gets stuck in the throat. There are few obvious signs of life in the firestricken areas, aside from the occasional insect fight in the ashes or the sound of a bird chirping.
In the village of Lefkimi, a father hugs his teenage son and murmurs words of comfort. A woman waters her flowers with her back to the approaching flames.
When new fires break out—spurred by fast, shifting winds—swallows flee in flocks, darting through the smoke. Planes and helicopters drop water over the landscape, creating a haze over orange flames.
On the ground, firefighters from Greece and across the European Union march toward the burning trees as trucks follow.
3 in 12 firefighters are struggling to keep up with the many fronts that arise as the flames are carried by the wind Photo: BBC Firefighters are struggling to keep up with the many fronts that are created as the flames are carried by the wind will be Photo: BBC
Once the fire is extinguished, bulldozers are sometimes used to cut down trees and remove anything that could reignite.
Every firefighter the BBC spoke to said this was the worst bushfire they had ever dealt with.
Firefighters are struggling to keep up with the multiple fronts that arise as the flames are carried by the wind and travel through dense vegetation. At night, when there is no air support, things get worse.
Many here are volunteers. In a clearing we met a group of men from the port city of Thessaloniki, a fourhour drive away.
“The terrain is so ugly, so violent, so difficult,” said Stelios Vairlis, 53, a veteran volunteer firefighter motivated by his “love for nature” and his children.
He lived in the region during his military service in the 1980s and describes the forest as the “jewel” of Greece.
“Yes… It was a very beautiful forest,” he says emotionally.
4 out of 12 men from the port city of Thessaloniki are some of the many volunteers fighting the fire Photo: BBC Men from the port city of Thessaloniki are some of the many volunteers fighting the fire Photo: BBC
The European Union (EU) launched its monitoring system in 2000, but says older monitoring data from the 1980s shows no forest fire has been comparable to this one.
In 2017, there was a serious fire in Portugal that killed dozens of people, but even that was not as large or as intense as the one in Greece this year.
EU experts warn of an “increasing trend of major fires” in recent years that is expected to continue and get worse.
EU Crisis Management Commissioner Janez Lenarcic said the area burned in the EU so far this year was more than 40% larger than the average for the last 17 years.
The BBC followed the control of the fire in Evros. But the tragedy left communities with deep and lasting scars.
In the parking lot of a hospital in the city of Alexandroupolis, refrigerated containers store the bodies of the dead. They are all believed to be migrants and two of them were children aged between 10 and 15.
5 of 12 Planes and helicopters drop water over the landscape, creating fog over orange flames Photo: BBC Planes and helicopters drop water over the landscape, creating fog over orange flames Photo: BBC
On August 22, 18 unrecognizable bodies were found. Some apparently huddled together as the flames closed in on them.
“Perhaps they understood that there was no way out and that this was their last desperate attempt to be together, like a final moment of their lives,” reflects coroner Pavlos Pavlidis.
More bodies were found nearby. Pavlidis believes they were trying to escape.
He says DNA samples have been collected but the results are not yet available. The names and nationalities of the victims are currently unknown.
The coroner takes a large paper envelope from his desk and places four clear plastic packages on it. They contain the group’s only surviving items: a silver ring, a watch, a telephone and a portable battery.
Pavlidis hopes these items could provide clues to the victims’ identities. He believes there are likely more victims in the forest who have not been found migrants who tried to enter the country.
This region near the border with Turkey is a common route to the European Union. Police estimate that around 900 people crossed the border every day in August.
This migration continues after the fire. Several groups are stopped by the police, including a mother and two children.
A man carrying a backpack and walking through the charred trees says he comes from Morocco. Other members of his group were taken away by police, he explains, but he escaped and hid in the burning forest for three days, from where he watched the planes above him fighting the fires.
6 of 12 Michalis lived in the village all his life Photo: BBC Michalis lived in the village all his life Photo: BBC 7 of 12 House destroyed by flames Photo: BBC House destroyed by flames Photo: BBC
Although the causes of the massive forest fire are not yet known, most people interviewed by the BBC in Evros believe migrants were responsible perhaps by trying to cook or keep warm. This is a statement from Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.
Some suggest that the first spark may have come from lightning.
Many believe that the fire would not have been so devastating if the government had responded better.
Residents of areas like Lefkimi say they feel forgotten. Environmentalists say the forest has grown uncontrollably, leading to an increase in the amount of vegetation it could burn.
In the area where the 18 bodies were found, a blue medical glove lies on the devastated ground, the only sign that bodies were found there.
8 of 12 Luva is the only trace at the site where 18 bodies were found Photo: BBC Luva is the only trace at the site where 18 bodies were found Photo: BBC
In the ashes lie the carcasses of wild boars and rabbits as well as charred and broken turtle shells.
The animals that survived the disaster now live in an ash desert a oncethriving ecosystem made up mostly of pine and oak.
The DadiaLefkimiSoufli Forest National Park was famous for its birds of prey and was home to three of Europe’s four vulture species: the black vulture, the griffon vulture and the Egyptian vulture. However, foresters say the main nesting site has been completely destroyed.
Some are optimistic that vultures will continue to use a second, smaller area in the forest where there are still some trees that can serve as nests, but there are other questions about the future of the ecosystem.
“We have to think about what we learned in school with the food pyramid birds of prey at the top, then all levels of other animals down to small prey,” says Dora Skartsi, who heads the Society for the Protection of Biodiversity in Thrace.
This pyramid cannot function “until all species recolonize the burned areas,” but it fears that climate change and drought conditions will affect the regeneration of the forest they all rely on.
9 of 12 Thousands of animals died in the fire Photo: BBC Thousands of animals died in the fire Photo: BBC
As you drive through the vast fireaffected areas, you may spot birds of prey circling overhead.
Environmentalist Elzbieta Kret, who came here from Poland 16 years ago, observes the birds with fascination.
“I’m trying to understand if they’re flying because everything is normal, or if they’re flying around saying, ‘What happened here?’ What happened to our nests? “What is our future?’” she says.
With a touch of optimism, she comes to the conclusion that nature is more resilient than humans. “I think they’re saying, OK, I survived, let’s move on to the next page.”
Near Lefkimi, goat farmer Kleanthis Raptis brings an injured young goat to safety. He says dozens of his animals died within hours.
“I’m very sad. What do I do with it now?” he says, holding a bell that he took from the neck of a dead goat.
Many of the residents of these small communities rely on the forest for their livelihoods through logging, hunting and ranching.
It is the second time that Kleanthis’ small property has caught fire, but the 56yearold cannot imagine living anywhere else because for him the forest means “health, oxygen, work, adventure and relaxation”.
10 of 12 The surviving animals find a destroyed environment Photo: BBC The surviving animals find a destroyed environment Photo: BBC
Paschalis Christodoulou, president of the Central Evros Beekeepers Association, owns 120 beehives and was rushing to get them out of Evros when the fire broke out.
But he says it was the wrong time to move them and many of the bees were outside when he moved the hives to a pickup truck and were stung while working.
The area created as a habitat for bees was completely devastated.
He estimates half the bees burned in the fire, but he’s more concerned about the loss of insect pollination plants.
“The problem for us is the next day. We need pollen. “What will happen now?” says Christodoulou. “As a person, I am optimistic, but logic and reality say we will need at least four to five years to understand (the extent of the damage).”
According to Janez Lenarcic, climate change is accelerating the spread, duration and intensity of wildfires across the continent.
There are also widespread concerns in Evros that the hot, dry summer has fueled the fire. Several residents say they are praying for rain.
For the EU’s Lenarcic, this shows how much harder it has become to contain fires and that they are “spreading and increasingly reaching the interface between wildland and urban areas”.
In the first days of the Evros fire, flames approached Alexandrópolis, forcing the main hospital to transfer its patients to a ferry in the port. Residents of surrounding communities flocked to the city to escape.
Residents of Kirki, in the northwest, were bussed to safety as the flames approached in late August.
If you go there now, you have to cross miles of a blackened landscape where trees stand like skeletons in a carpet of ash.
11 of 12 Goat breeder Kleanthis Raptis brings an injured young goat to safety Photo: BBC Goat breeder Kleanthis Raptis brings an injured young goat to safety Photo: BBC
“It came from far away, but in one night it burned everything down,” says Michalis, 81, who has lived in the village all his life.
When he returned the day after escaping the fire, he found his house intact, but others cried as they saw their homes destroyed.
“It’s the same for all of us. We are all locals. My heart is burning,” he says.
Michalis points to the scorched mountain landscape around him. He remembers his childhood days playing in the forest.
The community has grown smaller as he has aged, but he hopes the forest will bring similar memories to people in the future.
“The new generation will experience this forest again. But I’m too old. The damage is done.”
On the outskirts of Alexandroupolis, 28yearold Vasilis Adamidis looks helplessly at a burnt olive grove that has been passed down from generation to generation in her family.
He and his brother took their first steps in the forest, and his grandfather grew up with the trees after helping plant them as a child.
“He was always talking to them. He could sense what the tree needed,” says Vasilis.
He’s still not sure how many of the family’s 3,000 olive trees somehow survived, but walking through the forest the devastation is obvious.
As the fire approached, Vasilis called the fire department and told them there were no personnel to help. The flames soon reached his property and it became clear that trying to fight them alone would be fatal.
12 out of 12 fires left a trail of destruction Photo: BBC Fire left a trail of destruction Photo: BBC
“A big part of our life is the olive grove, and when it started to burn, a part of us also caught fire,” he tells me with tears in his eyes.
“It only took one night. Just that. And the whole life, all the trouble is over,” he says.
Vasilis’ products including luxury olive oil are sold across Europe and he speaks with equal passion about the growth of the company and the olives.
Much of the machinery melted in the fire and Vasilis estimates that it will take at least 10 years for production to be “good” again, but it will never be the same again.
He says the destruction on Evros should be a lesson for Europe and the world.
“It can happen to anyone,” he says as he pets his dog Rocco, who was lost in the fire and found a few days later kilometers from the olive grove, with singed fur and raw skin around his eyes. and the nose.
Such disasters have impacts that extend far beyond the most affected local communities.
“People should know early on that the products we eat vegetables, fruit, meat do not come from the market. It comes from nature. From places like this. It’s important for all of us,” he says.
Vasilis’ grandfather is now over 90 years old. His family didn’t tell him that the forest he planted had disappeared. “Those would be the last words he would hear.”
*with information and photographs by Giorgos Moutafis and Daphne Tolis
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