Rhodes Fire: The village of Apollonia has been evacuated for precautionary reasons

 

    Meanwhile, the Southern Aegean Regional Governor and the Mayor of Rhodes are calling for a state of emergency to be declared for three municipal units in Rhodes.

The evacuation of Apollo's village was announced a while ago, on the orders of the Fire Department, by the Regional Governor of the Southern Aegean, Mr. Giorgos Chatzimarkos.

The decision was taken for precautionary reasons, as one of the fire fronts is very close to the village. It should be noted that in the early afternoon, for precautionary reasons, the villages of Salakos, Ileusa, and Demelia, as well as the Elafoss Hotel in Nabi Elias, were evacuated.

Request to declare three Rhodes municipal units in a state of emergency

On their urgent request, with no. Request 98473/759 to the General Secretariat of Civil Protection, the Regional Governor of the Southern Aegean, Giorgos Chatzimarkos, and the Mayor of Rhodes, Antonis Kambourakis, to declare three municipal units of the Municipality of Rhodes a civil protection emergency, to deal with the very critical situation that has arisen, due to Strong fires broke out since yesterday, which is still going on. The request relates to the municipal units of Kamiros, Ataveros, and Lydios of the Municipality of Rhodes.

It is indicated in the urgent request that due to the occurrence of strong fires in the areas of Rhodes Municipality, which occurred on July 18, 2023, and is still ongoing, a very critical situation has arisen, which requires special handling. Coordinating and mobilizing the capabilities and means in addition to what is available under normal circumstances, and therefore the three municipal units are required to be declared in a state of emergency for civil protection.

It should be noted that earlier in the afternoon, at the Apollon Fire Station, the Emergency Coordination Authority for Civil Protection (SOPP) of the Dodecanese Regional Unit, chaired by the Regional Governor, Giorgos Hatzimarkos, was convened with the participation of representatives of all. The bodies that make up SOPP, coordinate and take measures to deal with and recover from the consequences of forest fires.

Great comeback

Until now, the fire in Rhodes is still out of control, while at this time there is a great renewal.

According to the MEGA report, the authorities are even evacuating journalists from the area for security reasons, while a member of the local civil protection stated that the fire was coming directly from the Apollo.

It is noteworthy that the island's forest firefighting forces, volunteers, and the people of the surrounding villages fought a battle throughout the night to deal with the Rhodes fire in an attempt to reduce the fire that turned into ashes by dozens. Acres of forest in the area between Apollo and Lerma.

The fire burned uncontrollably all night, while with the first light of day, the air force began pouring water.