‘The wind fans the flames like a blacksmith’s fire – there’s nothing that can stop it’: Wildfires have devastated parts of scorched Rhodes, writes NICK FAGGE – but volunteer crews are braving 40C heat to end the inferno
The temperature gauge shows 40 degrees Celsius and it is very hot on a mountain slope in Rhodes.
Not a cloud in the sky, just the smell of old fires and a wisp of wood smoke.
I am surrounded by a forest of charred bushes and trees.
Suddenly, a hot gust of wind inspires the tinder-dry undergrowth to burst into flames.
As a Chinook helicopter, loaded with a load of seawater to put out the blaze, flies overhead, the vicious wildfires that have ravaged this resort island come back to life.
The temperature gauge shows 40 degrees Celsius and it is very hot on a mountain slope in Rhodes. Pictured: A fire engine is seen today over an area still smoldering from the bushfires
Flames can be seen on the island of Rhodes as bushfires continue to rage, forcing evacuations
A man uses a fire extinguisher to douse the flames and slow their spread on the island of Rhodes
Around the hill, the ash gray and charcoal black forest glistens in the heat.
The popular resorts of Lindos, Kiotari and Pelki – where British holidaymakers flock in their thousands – are only a few miles away.
Greek firefighters who have been battling nature’s fire since last week hoped they had won.
This morning, hoteliers gently encouraged their missing guests that it was finally safe to take their empty rooms.
But while fierce winds revived the flames, the battle against the devastating bushfires that have devastated much of this popular holiday island and led to the evacuation of some 19,000 people is far from over.
As I drive with fellow photographer Tim Clarke to the nearby hilltop town of Laerma – the epicenter of the wildfires – we witness the devastation nature can wreak on a scorched earth.
Telegraph wires dangle above charred posts that have been burned like matches.
The carcasses of wild deer lie burnt on the side of the hot paved road.
As we watch the flames come back to life, local volunteers Nikos and Christos Christoforos yell to stop in their blue BMW.
On the Greek island of Rhodes, a huge flame can be seen above the trees on Monday
In Rhodes, an exhausted, soot-covered firefighter is seen wearing a face mask around his chin
A Chinook helicopter loaded with a cargo of seawater to put out the blaze flies overhead as operators work to put out the massive fires that have devastated the island of Rhodes
Father Nikos leaves his car door open and grabs a fire extinguisher and tries to put out the new flames.
His son Christos follows suit and tries to cut down the few remaining bushes that have not gone up in smoke.
But as soon as they put out one flame, a hot gust of wind ignites another.
“This is where our family comes from,” explains Christos. “We now live in Rhodes Town, but I came back with my father to salvage what we can.”
A few miles away, the residents of the village of Laerma have begun to return home.
The village was evacuated on Saturday as the fires threatened to destroy everything on the site.
Their neighbors in Lardos at the foot of the hill had banded together to support them by providing shelter, food, water and hope.
Here, firefighters do not pay for their pastries at the bakery or coffee in the cafes.
A charred forest stretches into the distance as flames engulf the trees on the Greek island
On Rhodes today, a charred forest can be seen, strewn with blackened corrugated iron
Flames engulf the branches of a tree in Rhodes today as Greek wildfires continue to spread
But as the bright ocher flames begin to dance again around the few remaining trees on the outskirts of Laerma, some fear they may have returned too soon.
“We’ve had forest fires before,” explains villager Naktaios Tharinakis.
“There were big fires in 1987 and 2007, but never as bad as this one.
“This year is crazy.
‘We had to evacuate the village on Saturday because the fire came so close.
‘The fire didn’t reach the village this time, but I know people who live further up in the mountains and have lost their homes.
‘We are used to hot weather here in the summer – 35, 36 degrees Celsius but not 42 or even 45 degrees as it was. And the wind. It makes everything worse.
“It kindles the flames like a blacksmith’s fire. There’s nothing that can stop it.’
A burnt car tire lies in the middle of a charred forest on the Greek island of Rhodes
MailOnline reporter Nick Fagge reports from a charred forest on the island of Rhodes
The horn of a four-wheel drive fire engine interrupts our conversation.
Tired-looking firefighters with soot-black faces rush by.
A clump of blackened trees has gone up in flames a stone’s throw from the village.
The wildfire refuses to go out.