What the two fires left behind

The two fires that started last Wednesday night, December 3rd, close to ancient Kameiros and Glyfada village were unexpected in early December. However, the strong winds, reaching 10 in the scale of Beaufort, that were blowing over the area made the efforts of the firemen very difficult. Moreover, they made it impossible for the fire planes to fly and help to burn down the fire. Finally, the fires burnt 25,000 sq.m. of forests and agricultural areas. The first fire in Glyfada was extinguished within a few hours but the other fire close to Kameiros was still burning till the midday of Thursday, December 4th.  Apart from forestal and agricultural areas, the fire caused great problems in the archaeological site of ancient Kameiros, one of the three ancient towns that have been discovered on the island of Rhodes. The fire burnt down the pine forest that surrounded the site and turned parts of the ancient walls, dating from the 3rd century B.C, into black. The archaeologist Mrs Maria Kollia said that there is the danger of collapse for these walls, while the need to perform flood-preventing works in the area is high. The notable thing is that the fire revealed some more ancient remains in the area around ancient Kameiros.