When lived life burns out
The flames, driven by the worst heatwave in 30 years, engulfed a third of the landscape on Greece’s second-largest island, Evia. The skeletons of the forest’s trees remain, and blackened houses lifelessly fill the cityscape. In the burned-out areas, residents are now facing hopelessness, as the fires have had life-changing repercussions, and aid from the country’s government has been to a limited extent.
By Stine Schjøtler
A smoke-smelling wind hovers heavily over northern Evia. The winding roads used to be covered in lush green forests, but today they're covered by mummified olive groves and parched conifers.
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The summer of 2021 ended up being a nightmare scenario for the residents of Evia. The island was hit by a wildfire that started on August 3 and raged for 10 days. The flames, driven by the worst heatwave in 30 years, consumed over 45,000 hectares of land. It's a third of the islands forests.
The fires on Evia besieged village after village, house after house and several residents describe the days as being apocalyptic. Even though wildfires aren't an unknown phenomenon on the island, the fires in August became unmanageable due to the extreme heatwaves, strong gusts of wind, and limping help from the government.
76-year-old Sofia Aggelopoulou has lost her house in the wildfires. With their own money, they have just begun to reconstruct the house.
Limited help
During the fires, the Greek government prioritized evacuations over rescuing the landscape, and their plan almost succeeded; on Evia, two people have died as a result of the fires.
It's a somewhat different scenario than three years ago when over 100 people lost their lives in a wildfire near Athens. At this point, the government had a clear and improved plan. However, according to several of the island's residents, this handling left the firefighters without permission to fight the fire when no human lives were at stake. Several residents didn't even see the shadow of a fire truck as the fires approached their village.
Following the fires, the Prime Minister of Greece, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, apologized for 'any weaknesses' in the handling of the fires as well as delays and misunderstandings in the firefighting effort.
- I fully understand the pain of our fellow citizens who saw their homes or property burned. It is obvious that the climate crisis is affecting the whole planet. With fires that last for days. That is the explanation, but not an excuse, or an alibi. We may have done everything that was humanly possible, but in many cases this did not seem to be enough in the unequal battle with nature, Mitsotakis said in a televised message.
One of the firefighters who felt the mistakes in the firefighting process was 35-year-old Thanasis Stefos. He was born and raised in the town of Rovies and assists the fire department when needed.
- I have been fighting fires for 10 years, but this was without a doubt the most difficult fire I have ever experienced because we were in a huge minority of both fire trucks and firefighters, says Thanasis and explains that he tried hard to get qualified help to the village.
The fires raged for a total of 7 days in the town of Rovies, and Thanasis explains that they were only 10 firefighters, of whom this was a mix of volunteers and trained. For four days, they worked 24 hours a day without sleep. As the days passed, Thanasis was constantly struck by a feeling of powerlessness and exhaustion, but persevered as long as it lasted.
- As I stood in front of the high, rapidly spreading flames, I managed to get scared several times. I put myself in danger, but I had decided that I would give everything I had and more because I could not just watch while my city disappeared, says Thanassis, describing how the unbearable heat of the flames and the excreted smoke almost made it impossible to breathe.
A life changing turning point
According to the televised message from Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, a 500 million euro aid package is approved for Evia and the region around Athens, which was also damaged by wildfires.
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But the Prime Minister's speech echoes in the affected areas, including families with children who lost their homes, olive farmers who lost their plantations, beekeepers who lost their hives, and hotel owners who only have their walls remaining. No one knows when or if they will receive compensation, and they doubt whether it will happen.
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Residents are now trying to navigate through the disaster. This path can seem arduous and frustrating, and it can be hard to carry on when your dreams from one day to the next are replaced by nightmares of flames 30 meters high, and everything you built up turns to ashes.
A fragile industry
- My head is still full of smoke. I can't sleep at night because when I try to close my eyes, I see flames, 56-year-old Amalia says, while a quiet stream of tears seeps down her cheeks.
Amalia Bloukidi stands in the burnt-down building where the hotel's twin rooms with panoramic views used to be. Her face reflects a clear sense of frustration as she looks at the charred landscape.
Vateri Guesthouse is located just outside the town of Limni in the northwestern part of Evia. Amalia has run the hotel with her big brother Giorgos for 22 years after they succeeded their parents. The hotel is surrounded by mountains, where sea view and forest used to come together. But now the ambiance is different. Now it's almost as if the burned forest with its eerie overshadows the beautiful sea view.
- I have turmoil inside me because I have a hard time trying to figure out how we should attract tourists when we can no longer offer them beautiful nature, Amalia says.
But it's not only tourism that worries Amalia. She finds the prospect of receiving compensation for reconstruction of Vateri Guesthouse just as uncertain.
- We may be able to get compensation from the government, but it's a long process that we can't wait for. We have already lost two summers due to Covid-19, we can't lose another one due to the fires, Amalia says but adds that many of the hotel's loyal guests have sent them financial support for a reconstruction of the hotel.
However, Amalia resigned herself to the fact that it will take a while before Vateri Guesthouse looks like its old self again.
- The problems we are facing now are hard to realize. Nothing is as it was before and it will probably never be the same as before. I don't even think that I will have the time to experience when nature heals again, but life goes on, and it is our home that I love, whether it is burned or not, Amalia says.
The sound of hard-working chainsaws is now a familiar sound in northern Evia. 66-year-old Vasilis Kallitsis is one of the many lumberjacks who have been working hard since the end of August to cut down the burned trees. They use the trunks to build water barricades, as there are no longer roots to absorb the rainwater.
Dependent on the pine trees
Nikos Brikos, a 60-year-old beekeeper, wanders among the burned hives in the forest behind Rovies.
- Almost everything has been destroyed by the flames. My gear, my workshop, the hives, and even the bees, says Nikos. He takes the cover off a pitch-black hive, sticks his hand into it, and fishes up a whole handful of burnt bees.
Greece is one of Europe's largest producers of honey thanks to its climate and lush landscape, which create ideal conditions for the bees. About 40 percent of Greek pine honey is produced in northern Evia.
Nikos was not a professional beekeeper, but still he had 42 hives containing a thousand bees in each of them. 30 of them have now been burned and he is unsure whether the bees in the last 12 hives will survive.
- My honey production was based on pine trees. Now that there are no pine trees left, the bees get no food and I have to move my hives far away if I want to recreate my production, Nikos says.
A forever a changed home
The greedy flames also migrated to the mountain village of Kokkinomilia, where residents fought a losing battle to save their small town. They were completely left to themselves.
- The whole village was without electricity and water, but no fire trucks were sent to us. When we tried to call for help, our calls were either not answered and if they were, we got rejected, 47-year-old Kiki Gerali explains with anger in her voice.
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Standing on the highest point of the village, she offers a panoramic view of the small mountain village. Still, it hasn't hit her that the city has been changed forever. Even the church, considered to be the landmark of the village, stands in ruins.
Nothing is the same as it was before. Even the face expressions of the people living here have changed. We are sad that we have been left in the lurch, Kiki says. In addition, she explains that the villagers lived in harmony with nature and were largely self-sufficient.
- It is not only our houses and belongings that have been taken away from us. It's the nature that surrounds us as well, and it hurts to the core. Our life in Kokkinomilia was based on that, Kiki says.
Kiki Gerali and the rest of the village's residents are still in the dark today. The uncertainty of what the future may bring. The village has still not heard anything from the government indicating that they will receive compensation for the reconstruction of their village.
Kiki Gerali walks around in the village of Kokkinomilia and gazes at the burned houses.
When a life’s work disappear
When the store door opens, one would normally be greeted by pleasant-smelling pastries and smiling owners. Now one is greeted by a thick smell of smoke and an unpleasant feeling. For 38 years, 55-year-old Zoe Chalasti and her husband, 61-year-old Panagiotis Chalastis, have owned the bakery called Noufaro in the town of Rovies. The fires have destroyed the entire store and the couple's life's work.
- Everything we have been working on for decades has been taken from us. We try to understand it, but it's still unreal to us, Zoe says, as she strokes her hand over the ash-filled counter.
Her husband finds an old photo album with pictures of the bakery and the couple's creations over time. He flips to a page of colorful cakes from a child's birthday party and looks at Zoe, who smiles as she gently shakes her head. The photo album is all that is left of Noufaro.
- When we came back and saw that Noufaro, was destroyed we went into shock. We just sat on the curb in front of the bakery for 3 hours, staring into space. We didn't talk, and we didn't even look at each other, Zoe says.
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Zoe Chalasti and Panagiotis Chalastis don't have an exact plan for Noufaro. So far, they have cleaned the whole store and are thinking of moving to smaller facilities.
- It's too much of a mouthful to reopen a bakery of such a large scale. The Noufaro chapter as it was before is over, but maybe we will find smaller facilities in Rovies, Zoe says, knowing that they cannot rely on the government for a replacement.
The shelves used to abound in specialties and beautiful cake creations. Today, the shelves are empty and the store room is covered with a white-gray, smoke-smelling fog.
To walk in a burnt olive grove
On the terrace of the Eleonas Hotel, located on the outskirts in the town of Rovies, sits 69-year-old Stefanos Valis with his wife, 63-year-old Marina Vali. For 21 years, the couple has run the hotel with a focus on involving visitors in the associated olive farm.
The surrounding groves, which contain about 3,500 to 4,000 olive trees, used to cover the landscape in a nice dusty green color. Today, the majority of the groves consist of burnt leaves and carbon black stems.
When the flames raged, Stefanos tried to put them out with the help of his son, but they were quickly asked to evacuate because fighting the fire was endangering their lives.
- When we finally let ourselves evacuate and walked away from the groves, I met the on-site commander at the road and I told him that they had to drive up there to do something. He told me it was too risky to go there. I explained to him that he either had to drive up there with his fire truck and otherwise I would walk there myself again, Stefanos says and follows up,
- I walked up there myself again. I couldn't just stand and watch my land in flames.
Today, Stefanos is happy that he took action. There is big damage to the groves for sure, but Stefanos believes many of the trees can be saved. The couple does not want to plant new trees, but instead, they want to let nature fend for itself.
- It is a long process to follow the pace of nature. It will take at least 10 years before the trees that have been badly damaged will be useful again. For the trees that have been partially damaged, I would bet that it will take about 5 years, Stefanos explains, adding that the island of Evia has had a total of 500,000 olive trees burned.
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The damage is unreasonably large, and it hurts Stefanos to think about how many of the island's residents depended their life on the olive groves and how large of a business has been affected.
Stefanos Vallis and Marina Valli have counted that around 2500-3000 of the trees in their olive grove has been burned or partly damaged.
Dreams on an A4 piece of paper
The morning sun shines gently into the backyard, where the day is slowly about to start. 11-year-old Kostas Steffos sits down at the small coffee table where his grandmother sits and feeds his 9-month-old little sister. His mother stands casually in the doorway.
Everything has changed since the fires in August. Both Kostas' childhood home and the grandparents' house went up in flames, so today the family lives together in a small apartment in the town of Rovies. Mother Dimitra, father Stathis, Kostas’ two younger sisters, grandmother, grandfather and Kostas himself. Seven people in total.
The family has been very affected by the fires. It is not only the houses they have lost. Kostas' father had his farm in the nearby forest. Almost everything is burned there as well. Nature, work tools, machines, and animals.
Kostas proudly tells how he joined his father at work almost every day to help him with farming.
Kostas gets up from the chair and enters the house. He returns with an A4 pad of paper in which he has drawn countless drawings. He proudly presents a colorful drawing, entitled "Farming ideas of Kostas." It represents a green field with rabbits, chickens, and sheep, just like at the farm of his father. A yellow and green tractor is driving on the path.
- I would really like a tractor like this. It's a John Deere and it's my favorite brand, Kostas says eagerly.
He flips to the next page, and immediately the mood of the drawings becomes different. From dreamy drawings to drawings of black trees and mountains in flames.
Kostas helped his father to put out the fires, and he explains that the drawings illustrate what he saw.
- I wasn't afraid of the fire, but I'm angry that it destroyed our house and all my stuff, Kostas says.
He flips to a blank A4 page, grabs his crayons, and begins to draw another John Deere tractor surrounded by grass. Kostas' dreams of green fields, lush trees, tractors, and animals haven't been destroyed by the fires.
