‘Biblical’ wildfires have forced the evacuation of more than 1,500 people on the Greek holiday island of Crete.
Hotels and homes have been emptied in the Ierapetra area, one hour’s drive from the Brit-beloved resort of Malia. Firefighters are battling blazes stoked by strong winds and flames are ripping through forested hillsides.
Locals have described the fire, which has also reached the areas of Ferma, Agia Fotia and Koutsounari, as a ‘complete disaster’.
Crete is one of Greece’s most popular tourist destinations, with roughly five million – 871,000 of them Brits – visiting last year.
Each summer, the risk of wildfires and heatwave-related incidents is high across the island as well as in other parts of southern Greece. But if you’ve got a trip coming up, is it time to start rethinking plans?
What’s the latest Foreign Office advice?
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As of 8.30am on Thursday, July 3, the UK Foreign Office has not updated its guidance on travelling to Crete or indeed any other part of Greece.
If it does, we’ll update this article as soon as possible.
Existing advice on the FCDO website warns that Greece is prone to extreme natural phenomena, such as earthquakes, wildfires, extreme heat and flash floods.
As it does every year, the Foreign Office cautions that there is a high risk of wildfires in Greece from April to October.
Travellers are advised to register for the Greek government’s national emergency alerts (you can do this here).
The Red Cross tells people to evacuate quickly, and to read up on the community’s response plan before travelling.
To avoid starting wildfires, you should always pick up litter (especially glass, which is known to spark fires), avoid barbecues and make sure that cigarettes are properly extinguished.
How common are wildfires in Greece?
In Europe, Greek islands such as Rhodes, Corfu and Crete are some of the areas hardest hit by wildfires.
In July 2018, at the height of tourist season, the worst wildfire to hit Greece in over a decade tore through a small resort town near Athens, killing 104 people and injuring more than 200.
Fires ripped through Mati, burning some 135,000 hectares of forest and destroying dozens of homes and businesses.
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In Crete, Global Forest Watch says the peak fire season typically begins in early July, and lasts 12 weeks.
Between July 1, 2024, and December 23, 2024, 14 major fire alerts were reported. The most fires recorded in a year was 47 in 2012.
Last week, a wildfire raged relentlessly across the eastern Aegean island of Chios, the ancestral home of some of Greece’s wealthiest shipping families and the fifth largest in the country.
A Georgian housekeeper was charged with unintentional arson after allegedly throwing a lit cigarette on the ground.
What to do if your holiday is affected
If you find yourself at the site of a wildfire while on holiday, follow instructions from local authorities, and make sure to keep any essentials – passport, keys, medication, phone – with you at all times.
If you’ve booked with a tour operator or airline, they should be your first port of call. They can help you to find alternative accommodation or flights, if necessary.
If you’re preparing to travel, it may be possible to cancel your trip for a refund, but only under specific circumstances.
This includes if there is a wildfire within a certain distance of you accommodation, or if there’s an official travel advisory from the Foreign Office warning against travel. Which, as it stands, there is not.
As Grant Winter, compliance officer at specialist travel insurance provider Goodtogo, tells Metro: ‘No airline is obligated to refund you for a flight you choose not to take.’
So, if you choose not to travel, you’re likely to lose some – or even all – of your money.
How dangerous are wildfires?
Very. Wildfires can hurt you in many ways, the most obvious being caught by the flames.
With fast winds and dry plants, both in abundance on the geographically exposed Greek islands, a fire can spread faster than you can run from it.
Burns are the biggest killer, but dehydration and heatstroke also pose a risk. Toxic particles of burned matter carried on the wind can enter the bloodstream. This microscopic matter has been linked to myriad health conditions including asthma, cancer and respiratory disease.
Survivors face the trauma of losing homes and businesses, and studies have shown that people who live through wildfires show increased rates of depression.
