Silence has settled over Porto Germeno after a destructive wildfire tore through the area, leaving residents surveying burned homes, blackened hillsides and a landscape covered in ash.
The change is immediate on the road toward Psatha and Porto Germeno. A metallic smell hangs in the air. Ash covers the hills, smoke still rises from tree trunks and small pockets of fire continue to smolder. Fallen pines and burned utility poles line the route. You don’t see birds, you don’t hear birdsong, the scene suggests.
Crews from Greece’s electricity network operator were working to restore power and replace burned poles, while inspection teams from the Ministry of Civil Protection moved door-to-door recording damage.
[Socrates Baltagiannis]
In the Aspra Spitia neighborhood, retiree Yiannis Dimitriadis waited for inspectors beside the remains of his vacation home. Hours before the fire arrived, he had visited to finish minor repairs. The property was ready to be sold to a buyer from abroad. When he returned after the blaze, little remained. “Everything is gone,” he said.
