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Greece has arrested a Georgian woman suspected of discarding a cigarette that helped trigger one of several wildfires razing land and threatening homes on the island of Chios.
Blazes broke out on Chios in the Aegean Sea on Sunday and tore through 10,000 acres of mainly bush and pasture land in three days, Greece's climate crisis and civil protection ministry said on Wednesday.
The ongoing flames also caused significant disruption, including power outages, water shortages, and damage to property.
The fire brigade said a woman was arrested on Tuesday night and that authorities were still investigating the cause of the fires.
The Georgian was charged with unintentional arson, two fire brigade officials told Reuters on condition of anonymity. Witnesses saw her drop a cigarette, one of the officials said.
Though the wildfires were largely contained by Wednesday, hundreds of firefighters remained on Chios to prevent rekindling and bring all fronts under control, the Greek fire brigade said. On Tuesday, residents of a seaside village in the south west of the island were ordered to leave as white smoke rose over a nearby beach.
Greece’s minister of climate crisis and civil protection, Yiannis Kefalogiannis, arrived on the island on Monday.
He said: “The situation on the island since yesterday has been quite difficult because we constantly have new fronts and resurgences and the climatic conditions are not favourable.
“We are faced with simultaneous fires in multiple, geographically unconnected parts of the island — a pattern that cannot be considered coincidental.”
The minister said police forces on the island had been reinforced, while military patrols had been doubled.
At Europe's southernmost tip, Greece is often hit by wildfires during its hot and dry summers, but authorities say the fast-changing climate is fuelling more destructive blazes.
The Greek government has paid hundreds of millions of euros in damages related to extreme weather to households and farmers, and to update firefighting equipment.
It has upped firefighter numbers to a record 18,000 this year in anticipation of a challenging fire season. They will be assisted by 294 firefighters from five European countries from July 1 to September 15.
