This post will not contain any photos, I think everyone’s seen enough of those, and of all the video on the TV bulletins and various websites. I don’t want to add to the sense of voyeurism that sometimes accompanies pieces about this subject. Our former home in Kiotari on Rhodes, where we spent 14 years of our lives, has been completely destroyed by the fires which, as I type this, are still raging and in many parts out of control.

Every summer there are outbreaks of fire in the Greek islands and rural areas, it’s a fact of life and has been for many years. How they start is often a mystery, but also far too often the result of either human devilment, or human idiocy, a description which, come to think of it, would include ‘human devilment’ anyway. On rare occasions fires can start simply as a result of some wanton throwing of a plastic water bottle as rubbish into the environment. Most of us remember that, when we were at school, we were taught in physics about how to start a fire, sometimes experimenting with a magnifying glass and a piece of paper. Not so many people realise that a plastic water bottle, if it still has some of it contents within, can easily become a magnifying glass under the intense Greek sun, eventually igniting the tinder-dry vegetation on which it lies. Sadly, though, in the years that we spent living on Rhodes, all too often people were eventually arrested for starting fires in the bush for sheer devilment or, worse still, with the intention of clearing an area of natural beauty that’s protected under law from development, so that, once the ‘heat dies down’ as it were, yet another new hotel or retail complex can be built on land that is no longer of any interest owing to it having been laid waste by the flames.

Even further back in the mists of time, when we spent 24 years living in South Wales, much of which is also an area of outstanding natural beauty (notably the exceptionally lovely Vale of Glamorgan), there was over the years a series of fires that destroyed a number of public houses, strangely enough, all with thatched roofs. Each time a pub was burnt down, it rose again from the ashes, fully renovated but, sadly, often no longer with the formerly ‘protected’ thatched roof, which was of course very expensive to maintain. ‘Insurance’ fires were a known phenomenon back then.

When someone is stupid enough to start a fire in the climate that prevails here in Greece during the summer months, in the expectation that in some way it is bound to be controlled or limited in the area to which it may extend, they almost never bargain for the sheer devastation, misery and expense that they’re going to be responsible for. When we lived on Rhodes, the worst fire we saw was the great fire of 2008, which happened in August and was even then the worst fire for a couple of decades. That fire almost reached Kiotari and the house where we lived, and for a few days about 70% of the sky above the house was the colour of a strong cup of tea, Canadairs flew fast and low across the rooftop and burning pine needles and ash fell constantly all around us. It was the wind direction that saved us then, but not so this time. In fact, I reckon that most people who’ve lived in rural Greece for any length of time can identify the sound of one of those aircraft long before they see one, and no one wants to see one. If you do see a Canadair, you know that danger is near and that somewhere not too far away a fire is raging.

The long-term effects of large bush and forest fires are staggering to consider. The livelihoods of many folk are put at risk, many Greeks have no property insurance on homes that have been in their families for generations, the effects on wildlife are incalculable, and soil erosion is the inevitable result, as hillsides are denuded of vegetation that once retained the moisture with its stems, foliage, trunks and roots but is no longer there. Habitat is gone and species are put under ever more threat of extinction. Fires, wherever they occur, are events that completely change the history of an area, fact. It has been argued that, over a couple of decades, there can be some benefit to the landscape, as the carbon that seeps into the soil makes it more fertile. OK, I get that, but in the meantime much of the soil is washed away by the winter rains anyway. After the vast fires on Rhodes in 2008, large sleeper-like tree trunks were installed horizontally across hillsides that had once been clad in pine forest, to help stop the soil from being washed away while the environment regenerated itself, but many of these were stolen during the winter months by people with chainsaws cutting logs for their stoves and fireplaces.

Having now been lurking inside the house (OK, except for the fact that last evening we enjoyed a lovely meal beside the sea down in Ierapetra, although even at 11.00pm it was very sweaty outside) for three days owing to the current heatwave, we ‘ve not only seen hours of news coverage of the current fires on Rhodes, but also been exchanging messages with friends and acquaintances who still live there. It seems to me that this event has completely devastated a huge part of the island and Kiotari, once viewed by many townsfolk as the choice part of the island in which to have a home, has been hit the hardest. Estimates vary, but they all refer to a five figure amount of people who’ve had to be evacuated from homes, villages and hotels in the area. We’ve seen or heard about businesses that we patronised for years having simply gone, and the valley at the head which our former home used to sit, which was once lush with maquis and pine woodland, is a black charred mess as far as the eye can see. Deer used to wander past our front gate during the winter months and there were several species of mammal that lived in and around the house, all gone.

I’m no expert, but it seems to me that the recovery period from this devastation is going to run into decades. The sheer size of the area that now resembles a scene from an apocalyptic hollywood movie is difficult to take in. Extreme climate events are happening more and more frequently, of that there is no doubt, but human tomfoolery adding to the problem is hard to take, it really is. There has been little speculation so far on the TV news about how all this started, and it seems that it started some 50km away to the north from where the flames currently rage, but when the investigations begin, I really do hope that it doesn’t lead to some human devilment because, if it does, it’s hard to be charitable and not want to see a very harsh penalty dealt out to the guilty party or parties.

As I write this there are still more than half a dozen villages evacuated, awaiting their fate. Asklipio, the village where we used to collect our mail, is burning, and local volunteers are striving desperately in extreme heat to try to save what they can. I’m not going to say ‘pray for Rhodes,’ since it’s not the right thing to say. Praying isn’t much good if those who say those prayers aren’t that bothered about communicating with the Creator the rest of the time, is it? Plus, the problems in this world need to be considered on a much larger scale than this one event. Why should the Creator, if you believe that there is one, act quickly to save Rhodes, when dozens of Ukrainian cities have been laid waste, when millions of people are starving as a result of famine or warfare in other parts of the planet, when extreme weather events are causing flash floods and landslides elsewhere?

The best anyone can do is perhaps to support the island once next year’s season comes around by visiting it, in the hope that such an event as this will not occur again for many a long year. Yes, the place will look different in some parts, but the local residents will doubtless welcome you with open arms. If there are any appeals for financial or other types of aid, then contribute if it’s within your power. That’ll do a sight more good than asking for divine intervention, when that’s more likely to occur when the Creator calls ‘enough’ to man’s ongoing march to destroy this planet through negligence, ignorance or the quest for power. (I always found this verse most intriguing… Revelation 11:18).

Like thousands of other people, I feel a deep sense of shock at what we’re seeing in my former home. I never thought in a million years that the BBC News at Ten in the UK would be showing footage of the local beach where we used to swim, even of the very lane up which our home was situated, yet that’s what I saw when I tuned into that news programme from here last night. Locally, there are appeals from some to report to the police anyone seen throwing a cigarette butt out of a car window. Right now, I don’t think I’d hesitate to take down the number and report it. Years ago when we lived on Rhodes, on more than one occasion I saw glowing cigarette-ends being thrown from the window of the car in front while driving in the summer months. I don’t get these people at all. Why is it that so many seem to think that they don’t need to take care for the benefit of others?

Anyway, enough said. I just wanted to express my feelings about what is surely the worst disaster ever to strike the island of Rhodes. Already it’s reported that it is for sure the largest evacuation of humans ever undertaken in Greece, that’s how bad it is. For all that, there are large areas of the island that are untouched. Let’s just hope that they will still be able to make a living for the remainder of this summer. It does make my blood boil when I see bad reporting too. One piece on a web site I read only hours ago was entitled “Fires rage in Rhodes Town.” Talk about stupidity and poor journalism.

Thanks for reading my piece. Stay safe, but above all, be wise and show social responsibility in all that you do, eh?

•

Click HERE to go to my Amazon Author Page. You can browse all my written works right there.