“I was terrified. We have small fires every year. But for the first time, Patra was surrounded by fire. The sky had turned black.” A young woman who works in a restaurant on the central square of Patra describes to Kathimerini how, on Wednesday, within a few hours, residents watched in shock as the flames that flared up in the green mountains surrounding Greece’s third-largest city quickly crossed the city’s limits, reaching places such as Ano Sychena, Bozaitika, Voudeni and Aroi. “These are not suburbs. This is Patra,” she says.
Even a short drive from the center now leads to charred forests and the acrid smell of smoke. Helicopters circle overhead, dousing hotspots, while on the ground, many neighborhoods have endured water cuts for three days. Residents queue with buckets at municipal tanks to fill what little they can.
The fire reached the streets, houses and properties of residents, causing minor to total damage in cases.
Argyris Andrianos built his two-story house in the early 2000s in Voudeni, opposite the area’s well-known Mycenaean cemetery, overlooking the once verdant hillside. Trying to take stock of what happened, he walks up and down on the broken tiles of his veranda.
“The fire came from behind, passed through Voudeni and our place caught fire. The roofs burned. But there is damage inside too. It’s like a bomb had fallen.”
Now retired, he describes how he built his house through hard work. “I worked two eight-hour days every day. I’m done. I just can’t anymore. I’m very sad.”
His daughter lived downstairs, and from a distance, with her husband and young child, she saw the house engulfed in flames. He now wonders if his grandson will be able to return to his home. The nearby archaeological site was saved – but the family’s home was not.
Anastasios Arvanitis, a local resident and a member of an informal firefighting group, had already been fighting the flames all night when in the early hours of Wednesday he saw the flames that eventually partially burned down Andrianos’ house erupting on the opposite side of the mountain.
“From 11 p.m. to 7 a.m., 30 people fought in three or four different places,” he said. “We stopped it in Dragolena, but it flared up again, jumped to the archaeological site, and surrounded us.”
Fields of crops, olive trees, and livestock shelters were destroyed – a blow to both the economy and the way of life in the area.
“We saved houses! We saved them – the residents, with buckets and tanks, helping the fire trucks. When the Canadairs [firefighting aircraft] began dropping water, the fire’s intensity dropped.”
He got emotional when describing how one firefighter collapsed from exhaustion. “He was trapped by the flames. When he managed to get out, the heat and the pressure were too much. He fainted. He was unconscious, just looking to see if his colleagues and their truck had survived.”
While he was talking, Arvanitis’ phone rang constantly as residents organized patrols through the forest roads, watching for flare-ups or suspicious activity.
Municipal officials will begin assessing the damage at the beginning of next week. “Houses, businesses and animals have definitely been burned within the municipality. The surveying [of damage] will begin on Monday so that we have the final picture,” noted Michalis Anastasiou, Patra’s deputy mayor for civil protection.
According to motorway operator Olympia Odos, the major ring road around the city has also suffered damage.
Three young men – aged 19, 25, and 27 – who were arrested on suspicion of arson in two separate fires in the city are expected to testify before investigating magistrates on Sunday.
