Kritsa: fire under control, 112 alert sounded

A fire that broke out in farm and woodland at the entrance to Kritsa, in the Municipality of Agios Nikolaos in Lasithi, was brought under control in less than an hour on the evening of Sunday 16 August 2026. According to CretaOne, the alarm was raised at the Fire Service at 21:43, shortly after the fire started. A warning message was sent to residents in the area through 112 so that they would be on alert. As Politica.gr reported, the fire was put out rapidly and no danger arose for the settlement. Ground units of the Fire Service took part in the operation, with no need for air support, as the fire broke out after sunset.

The speed of the response was decisive. Kritsa is one of the largest and most historic villages in eastern Crete, built like an amphitheatre on the slopes of Katharo, with dense building and narrow lanes that make access difficult for fire engines. The vegetation around the settlement is typically Mediterranean, with olive groves, scrub and dry grass, material that in mid-August is at its lowest moisture level of the year. The activation of 112 at such an early stage shows that the authorities judged there was a possibility of the fire spreading towards an inhabited zone. Night-time firefighting is carried out exclusively with ground assets, as aircraft do not operate after sunset for safety reasons. That makes the first hour critical: if the fire is not contained immediately, it can develop out of control until dawn.

The incident came one day after the easing of the strong winds that had kept Crete on heightened alert over the 15 August weekend. The fire risk index for Monday 17 August had already fallen for the island, as TodayGrid reported in «Crete: fire risk eases on Monday». That picture, however, does not remove the danger from isolated outbreaks: most fires in Crete start from human activity on farmland rather than from the weather. Eastern Crete has repeatedly seen fires in farm and woodland areas over recent summers, with abandoned cultivations acting as a continuous corridor of fuel between olive groves and settlements.

The Fire Service has not announced the cause of the fire or the area burnt, and no injury or damage to any building was reported. The fire season runs until 31 October and the burning of dry grass is banned throughout it. In the Municipality of Agios Vasileios in Rethymno, at the other end of the island, the Sellia fire is still under investigation, as TodayGrid reported in «Sellia: 35-year-old before the prosecutor over the fire». More from the area on the Agios Nikolaos page. Residents who receive a message from 112 are asked to stay on alert and follow the instructions of the authorities, without attempting to fight the fire themselves. The message does not always mean an evacuation order; in this case it was a warning to be ready.