Forest fires in Greece

Several forest fires occurred since August 21, 2009 in the prefecture Attica, north-east of Athen, Greece. The fires, fanned by strong winds, destroyed thousands of hectares of forest land, farming fields and olive groves. Many residents had to be evacuated from their homes. The maps show burnt areas derived by the analysis of SPOT 5 satellite data acquired on 25/08/2009 and the location of active fire hot spots on different days. ZKI of DLR is continuously monitoring the fire situation in Europe with the help of the MODIS Fire Information System. It uses the receiving stations of the German Remote Sensing Data Center and processes the data automatically. Due to the severe situation in Greece, the fire information for this area is published on this dedicated ZKI webpage.