The battle with the flames in Evia continues, with the first light of day. At 7:30 in the morning, the evacuation of the village of Kechries in the Municipality of Elymnia, Mantoudi-Agia Anna, began, as the fire that has been burning since the day before yesterday, Tuesday, August 3, is now moving threateningly towards the village.
The police decided to proceed with the evacuation of the residents. No aircraft has been set up in the area to drop water, as visibility is limited due to dense smoke.
One front moves from the villages of Kourkouli and Skepasti south to Kechries, while at the same time a new front moves northeast to Kechries, but also south to Daphne.
Police patrols informed the residents of Kechries that they would have to leave the village, while the church was ringing bells. There are Fire and Police forces in the area, the ground fire forces located in Rovies are moving towards Limni, Kechries and Kourkoulos, while other forces are around the villages of Kourkouli and Skepasti.
This is the 15th village evacuated since the start of the fire. In the previous days, by order of the Fire Brigade, the villages and settlements of Retsinolakkos, Kalamoudi, Chronia, Sepiada, Kourkouli, Skepasti, Damia, Osios David, Koulouros, Marouli, Rovies and Paleochori, Amelanes were evacuated. In most villages, after their evacuation, the flames passed through them.
According to the Fire Brigade, the forest fire that broke out on August 3, in the area of Myrtia of the Municipality of Mantoudi – Limni – Agia Anna Evia is in progress and 165 firefighters are operating with 5 groups of pedestrians, 57 vehicles, 3 A / F and 3 E / P of which 1 E / P as coordinator. Assistance is provided by 82 firefighters from France, the Coast Guard, the Greek Army with infantry units as well as water tankers and OTA project equipment.
Earlier, two more villages were evacuated in northern Evia, according to the mayor, George Tsapourniotis. These are the settlements of Amelantes and Kerameia, which are located north of the front of Drymonas, Saint David and the defense zone in the village of Kourkouloi, where yesterday a battle was fought to prevent the fire from advancing towards the village of Skepasti.
During the night the fire was in remission, but from 3:00 the winds intensified and began to approach the houses of the village Amelantes. By midnight, however, the fire brigade was reinforced by others coming from the Varybobi front.
According to the first data, even this morning the air means find it difficult to attempt over the hearths, as the visibility is limited, due to the dense smoke.
As far as Rovies is concerned, so far there is no official assessment of the damages, while local government officials are talking about more than 150 burnt houses in the wider area.
