The multiple wildfires burning on the island of Chios on Tuesday officially entered the third day since the fire began, with fire fighting forces still struggling to get the flames under control in spite of their best efforts.
A total of 444 fire fighters, representing the entire Chios fire department with reinforcements from Athens, Thessaloniki, Kavala and Lesvos are trying to put out the fires, including 21 forest commando units, 85 firefighting vehicles, 30 volunteers with four volunteer vehicles and eight firefighting aircraft, along with water tankers and digging machinery supplied by the municipality and the army.
At 14:00 on Tuesday, a fire front was burning at Agios Georgios Sykousis in the direction of Armolia, which passed through Kampi and burned mastic gum tree orchards, forest and pasture, heading toward the Agios Georgios cemetery. Fire fighting forces are attempting to prevent the flames from reaching the Sklavia forest.
The front between Zyfia and Dafnona that had earlier rekindled appeared to be subsiding after 21:30, while small and fragmented fronts were still burning between the villages Lithi and Vessa.
Strong winds are still hampering fire fighting efforts on the island, where a state of emergency was declared on Monday.
Authorities continue to strongly suspect that arson was involved, according to the Chios deputy regional governor Nikos Nychtas, while he appeared uncertain whether the evidence would be sufficient to catch or convict anyone.
Pyrometeorologist and National Observatory of Athens researcher Thodoros Giannaros said it was "truly worrying that the fire is going over twice-burned and thrice-burned areas" and said that conditions will remain difficult though winds are expected to abate somewhat, especially after 20:00, but also change direction, which could turn the fire in the direction of the larger mastic gum producing villages. "Great care will be needed to control that front," he added. Giannaros also deplored the lack of good data from older fires, saying that this prevented truly learning from that experience.