Greece has not come out from under the curse of the fires

Greece is still dealing with fires, even though summer is over. An important forest fire, which broke out on Sunday in the Corinth region, approximately 130 kilometers west of Athens, and which caused the death of two people, continues to burn uncontrollably for the fourth consecutive day, reports EFE. About 570 firefighters, assisted by 160 trucks, six helicopters and four firefighting planes fought the flames that have already consumed more than 6,400 hectares, according to the Copernicus Earth Observation Program of the European Union. "There is no active front, but rather widespread outbreaks, and today the wind has subsided, although there is always the danger of re-ignition," a spokesman for the fire department told EFE. The fire broke out on Sunday near the village of Rozena, on the northern coast of the Peloponnese (southern) peninsula. Fueled by strong winds, the fire spread to the south and east, with a front that reached more than 30 kilometers. About 13 villages, with more than 2,000 inhabitants, had to be evacuated as a precaution, while several households were burned. On Monday, thick smoke from the fire reached as far as Athens, covering the sky. The authorities discovered two charred bodies in front of a farm near the village of Elliniko. The victims are two men from the neighboring village of Ano Pitsa, aged 35 and 40, respectively, who decided to go to the village on Sunday afternoon to help put out the fire. Later, they were reported missing. Schools in Xylokastro-Evrostini, the affected area, remained closed on Wednesday, for the second day in a row. "If you ask us if at the end of September and the beginning of October we expected to have such a difficult fire, we tell you that obviously not", declared the previous day the Minister of Civil Protection, Vasilis Kikilias. Pavlos Marinakis, spokesman for the government of conservative Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, said in a press conference that the access of fire engines to the area was very difficult "because of the narrow roads". The main opposition party, the leftist Syriza, again accused the government of not being ready to deal with the fires in the country.