Greeks in Despair, Returning to Damaged Homes
Residents of areas northwest of Athens return to the ashes and criticize authorities for slow response to fires, while Serbia simultaneously sends firefighters to help France.
Residents of areas northwest of Athens return to the ashes and criticize authorities for slow response to fires, while Serbia simultaneously sends firefighters to help France.
Desperate residents returned to their damaged homes in fire-affected areas northwest of Athens on Tuesday, August 4, 2026, after wildfires across Greece subsided. Still, hundreds of firefighters remain on alert for potential new outbreaks in inaccessible hills across the country.
Local emergency crews are being assisted by water-bombing aircraft, with reinforcements from Romania and France operating on three fronts west of Athens around the Gulf of Corinth, where fires have been burning since Friday, July 31. Strong winds from the Aegean Sea have hampered efforts, and aircraft were occasionally unable to assist. Deputy fire service spokesman Ioannis Artopoios confirmed the severity of the situation to public broadcaster ERT: "We are talking about a fire during which we had no aircraft available for 30 consecutive hours, which caused us many difficulties."
Residents, however, are outraged. "There were five smaller fronts, and they let them become a full-blown fire," said 68-year-old Emilios Ioannidis from the coastal town of Psatha, about 40 kilometers from Athens. "They did nothing. They left us at the mercy of God," he added. His anger is shared by other locals who have lost their homes and memories.
In Porto Germeno, about 60 kilometers northwest of Athens, 45-year-old Vivi Gialia surveyed the remains of her parents' home. "It's like my heart has been torn out," she told Reuters. "It was a beautiful place; we spent summers here. We had happy moments here, and now there's nothing left," she added, criticizing the firefighters' slow response.
Ioannidis feels similar pain, his house now overlooking scorched pine trees. "For ten years, I'll look at this landscape, this dead landscape," he said. "Our soul is burning; our home might not have been burned, it might have been saved, but our soul burns when we see this." The Greek government has announced compensation payments for individuals whose homes were destroyed or damaged.
The firefighting effort was also marked by tragedy. Two crew members of a firefighting helicopter died on Sunday, August 2, near Psatha after a mid-air collision with another helicopter. Two crew members from the other helicopter survived. The details of the accident, involving U.S.-registered Bell helicopters, are being investigated by the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), Greek authorities said.
While Greece battles the aftermath, Europe faces devastating wildfires. Serbia has sent aid to France, where fires are raging in the south of the country. "While the firestorm in the south of France spreads over thousands of hectares, 34 firefighters-rescuers from the Ministry of Interior of the Republic of Serbia, supported by a three-member medical team, are working side by side with their French colleagues in the Var department," said Interior Minister Ivica Dačić.
Dačić emphasized that Serbian firefighters, as part of a large international team, justify the trust placed in them daily. "When members of the Ministry of Interior put on the uniform of Serbia, they carry not only equipment. They carry the trust, responsibility, and reputation of their country. And the most beautiful image of Serbia is created when it is written by their deeds," he stated. More than 1,600 French firefighters are deployed at the fire site.
