Fire in Penteli: Stormy winds are a nightmare making firefighting from the air a gamble

An extremely difficult battle against a fearsome enemy, the unabating winds, were fought all night by firefighting forces , to bring the huge fire that broke out yesterday Tuesday at noon in Penteli, under control. The fire spread to areas such as Drafi, but also more widely to Anthousa, Dioni, Dasamari and Gerakas.

Very difficult operation

Efthymios Lekkas, professor of Natural Disaster Management, speaking to MEGA channel, spoke of a very difficult operation and emphasized that a defensive attitude should be maintained, which he explained as “keeping the fire in check, so that when the morning comes, the aerial means can deal with it’.

“Currently, fighting the fire is very difficult, because there is no visual contact, at any moment the wind changes and this is a very difficult factor,” he told MEGA and added:

“Effective defensive lines have to be maintained so that in the morning firefighters can contain the fire.”

Evacuation

There were continuous messages from the 112 emergency SMS service for the evacuation of areas, with the latest one today Wednesday at 04:30 addressed to the residents of Panorama Pallini and Voula Pikermiou, in order to evacuate towards central Pikermi.

At 02.00 a message was sent to the residents of the eastern areas of Gerakas. “If you are in the eastern areas of Gerakas, evacuate now to Agia Paraskevi,” the message said.

Earlier, an order had been given to evacuate the whole of Penteli and the areas around the 414 Military Hospital, towards Vrilissia.

“The fire started in a sensitive area of ​​Penteli. We still don’t know how it started, we are pensive,” said Mr. Lekkas.
“Because of the strong winds that are blowing, all the embers that are created can be carried quite a distance. There is a big resurgence due to the strong winds,” he added.

Mr. Lekkas also spoke of the difficulty to relieve the area and the difficult microclimate that has formed, which “favors fire”.

There is also concern for the aerial firefighting means as it is not certain if they will be able to operate due to the gale force winds.

The Fire Department said that “they will certainly be ready and we will see if they succeed”.

Ominous predictions

The National Meteorological Service predicts for today Wednesday in Attica north northeast winds of 5 to 7 and in the east temps up to 8 Beaufort.

For the area where the fire is raging, according to the latest available real and predictive data from the FLAME pyro-meteorological team of the National Observatory of Athens (EAA) / meteo.gr:

The pyro-meteorological conditions are expected to worsen again from the early hours of 05:00/06:00 (Wednesday 20.07.2022), when a further increase in wind intensity is expected. This will reach 6-7 Beaufort in the early morning ( 20.07 09:00).

It is noted that:

The interaction of the wind with the rough ground contour in the area leads locally to higher wind intensities.

Due to the high wind intensities and strong gusts, the possibility initiation of new foci increases, even at long distances from the main front.