…when the sun turned red!

We are at Kalamata marina, first few days of August and yesterday the sun was blocked by black smoke from the fires in Peloponnese. From time to time I could see the sun turning into a bright orange color and then red. It was early in the afternoon and the wind was strong and burning hot. The temperature was about 41 C. The boat was covered with a thin layer of ash. On the news I could see that there were fires all over Greece, in Athens, the North of the island Evoia, in Lakonia and Messinia in Peloponnese. For three days the forests are burning, villages have been evacuated and 150 houses were burned down. The fires almost got to the archeological site of ancient Olympia, where we were just a couple of days ago. Most of the trees are pine trees and the pines when on fire explode like hand grenades spreading the fire to every direction. The winds have been picking up steadily making it impossible for the firemen to make any progress or put them under control. Portions of the main highways were closed and the government was sending text messages to people’s phones warning them of the situation and telling them to either evacuate areas or avoid unnecessary transportation. Organizations and animal shelters have been asking for people’s help to move animals from areas that were in danger. The police have been going around people’s houses telling them to evacuate in the early morning when the fires reached east of Mani in Peloponnese. The country is in a state of emergency today, Friday, August 6; Cyprus has already sent help while assistance is coming also from France, Sweden, Romania and Switzerland.