On Sunday, Greece’s second largest island was engulfed in fire , pillars of billowing smoke and ash turned the sky orange and encroached on villages, triggering more evacuation alerts.
The fire on Evia, an island of forested mountains and canyons laced with small coves of crystalline water, began aug 3 and cut across the popular summer destination from coast to coast as it burned out of control.
The blaze now is the most severe of dozens that broke out in Greece in the wake of the country’s most protracted heat wave in three decades, which sent temperatures soaring to 45 degrees celsius for days and created bone-dry conditions.
Three patrol boats and a ferry were on standby at Peki to evacuate residents .
Around 350 people already boarded the ferry and 23 people were picked up by coast guard as fire cut off many road-based escape routes.
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