On Thursday, August 3, the hills above the village of Agios Georgios Feron, 20 minutes from the town of Volos in central Greece, were black and bare, with no trees or animals. Two weeks after the fires that ravaged the scrubby agricultural plain, the smell of burning still filled the hot air around the hamlet of 700 people. In this region of Magnesia, 80% of the livestock – over 3,000 sheep, a few goats and cows – were lost to the end of July fires.
When the fire broke out in this already arid and sparsely wooded area on July 26, the temperature was at 45°C (113°F). Violent winds of up to 60 kilometers per hour made firefighting difficult. More than 5,000 hectares went up in smoke.
In the village café, the faces of people were dejected. Memories of those two days of fighting the flames still haunt the locals. "In one hour, the whole hill burned down. The firefighters had no time to act. There were no air reinforcements, and we couldn't do anything on our own... One of us, a 45-year-old farmer, tried to save his herd, but lost his life," said Kostas Tsintsous, with a lump in his throat. The farmer lost all of his 300 sheep. Their milk was sold to local factories owned by the French company Lactalis to make the most famous of Greek cheeses, feta. The family business he ran with his brother and father will have to be rebuilt from scratch.
"It's a catastrophe. I can't sleep. I don't know whether to stay in this business or give up," confided the 50-year-old. Alongside him, Vassilis Pagonis lost 350 of his 600 sheep, his stables and his vehicles. "Not a single TV channel has come to see the situation here, even though one of us is dead!" said the 30-year-old. "The cameras were all in Rhodes. But here, this is the heart of feta production, our national cheese, doesn't that count for something? In Rhodes, they're afraid there won't be any more tourists. But we've lost our jobs, we've gone into debt to invest in our farm, and it's going to take us several years to get back on our feet," he continued in despair.
A few days ago, a delegation from the French Ministry of Agriculture visited the site to assess the damage, but no compensation has been paid yet. "It costs around 250 euros to raise an animal. Then you have to add the 800 square meters of barns that were destroyed. The government would have to give me more than 75,000 euros. I know I'll never get that kind of money, but if I get half of it, I'll be able to rebuild little by little and not go under," said Kostas Tsintsous.
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