Evros: no active front in the Komara fire

An agricultural and forest fire broke out at midday on Tuesday 18 August in the area of Komara, in the prefecture of Evros. According to the Fire Service update, the Operations Centre received the alert at about 14:00 and immediately sent forces to the scene. Eight firefighters worked to put it out, among them a team from the ground units of the 20th Special Forest Operations Unit, with four vehicles and the assistance of one helicopter. By 15:50 the fire had been left without an active front, meaning it no longer had a front in progress spreading to fresh fuel. The crews remained at the scene to extinguish the remaining outbreaks and to guard the perimeter.

The Special Forest Operations Units were set up to intervene on difficult terrain, where vehicles cannot get close and firefighting is carried out by ground teams with hand tools and portable equipment. Deploying an aerial asset from the very first phase is a standing choice in operational planning, as the first minutes usually determine whether an outbreak will be contained or will develop into a major incident. Evros remains one of the worst affected areas in the country after the fire of August 2023, which burnt tens of thousands of hectares of forest and farmland and is considered the largest single forest fire ever recorded in the European Union.

At Komara, as in much of northern Evros, cultivated land borders on stands of forest and scrubby thickets, with the result that an outbreak in stubble or at the edge of a field quickly moves into forest fuel. The high temperatures and winds of August, combined with dry harvest residues, make this period the most dangerous of the year for the area’s farmers. For local communities, where income rests on farming and livestock, even a limited fire means the loss of animal feed, damage to fences and irrigation equipment and hours spent moving animals away. The Fire Service gave no figures for the burnt area and reported no damage to buildings or injuries.

Alongside the firefighting effort, the Evros Arson Crime Investigation Unit was mobilised and is looking into the causes. Sending the unit is standard practice at such incidents and does not presume arson: the units identify the point of origin, record traces and gather testimony, in order to establish whether it was a case of negligence, technical failure or intent. By the afternoon of Tuesday 18 August no cause had been announced. Agricultural and forest fires caused by negligence, from the burning of residues to work with machinery that produces sparks, carry criminal penalties and administrative fines, while stricter restrictions apply during the fire season. More incidents in the Fire section and in the Society section.