[Grapappytek]

At this point I am devastated. Greece is burning from side to side. I walk out my front yard and I can see the smoke coming from 100km away.

In the past 2 days there have been over 150 fires the greatest percentage of which are attributed to arson. Thousands of houses have been burnt and entire villages have been erased from the map. 44 people have been found dead already while authorities are still locating bodies. Many more are missing. Almost every hour there are new reports of arson in various places. Foul play behind these events is considered certain while Greek police and intelligence are investigating.

This is probably the worst day in modern Greek history after WW2.

http://www.cnn.com/2007/WORLD/europe...res/index.html
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6963373.stm

[Toossehew]

that was in bad taste [thumbdown]

it's sad what people are capable of doing, I hope they find those responsible for commiting these acts and bring them to swift justice.

[huntbytnkbel]

Vagos, I'm from Albania and been reading the news. It really is a tragedy. The worst part is that these fires might have been started deliberately by arsons to make the government look bad.

I hope they're caught and spend all their miserable life in prison.

Lets hope the EU will act swiftly and send some actual help!

Deni

[Tribas4u]

Damn, that's just...odd....

Serial arsons don't tend to be anywhere near that freaquency!

[Heclailia]

that was in bad taste [thumbdown]

Sorry. It's just that lately, I've been on fire in terms of pulling off good jokes.

[DuesTyr]

9/11 = 8/25

Month/Year = Month/Year

[feqlmwtuqx]

Sorry. It's just that lately, I've been on fire in terms of pulling off good jokes.

Can't say I've seen any evidence of it ... [thumbdown]

To OP, that's pretty aweful, in the dry conditions it'd be like setting a match to a tinderbox. It's probably kids or religious/ethnic nutters.

[Pateeffelty]

9/11 = 8/25

Month/Day = Month/Day

Fixed it. Also, I believe in most European countries it's day-month-year not m-d-y (can anyone help me out here?).

[huntbytnkbel]

Also, I believe in most European countries it's day-month-year not m-d-y (can anyone help me out here?). Here in Albania is dd.mm.yyyy. In Hungary, where I studied, it was yyyy.mm.dd. You've got to love diversity [thumbup].

[Grapappytek]

The country has been declared in a state of emergency. The number of those killed has risen to 52 and the prime minister has publicly admitted that the country is in a state of war against an unknown enemy... At the same time new fires are popping up 5 at a time...

http://news.sky.com/skynews/article/...281375,00.html

[bashansasasasa]

I don't understand why people have to die from this. Smoke inhalation? I hope nobody got burned alive because you can see a fire coming and you can walk at a normal pace to a safe location. It's not like it's a fiery ****ing mud-slide, now is it?

[KirillAristov]

The fires can actually be really fast and hard to outrun if the fuel is really dry and the wind is on its side. My brother is in fire fighting, and he has seen a lot of his buddies overrun by the fire.

But that is crazy and has got to suck. Maybe a comeback of the Spartans???
Show these people who the boss is.

[Grapappytek]

I don't understand why people have to die from this. Smoke inhalation? I hope nobody got burned alive because you can see a fire coming and you can walk at a normal pace to a safe location. It's not like it's a fiery ****ing mud-slide, now is it?

Most of the dead were burned alive trying to protect their homes or trying to leave while roads were blocked from fallen trees. Most of these villages were built within forests and the flames surrounded them. The velocity of the wind is incredible and the fire can move entire kilometers within few minutes.

[Heclailia]

Can't say I've seen any evidence of it ... [thumbdown]

To be honest, I think my posts are more useful than the generic ones.

What is a generic one you may ask?

"Yes, I've heard about this recent tragedy that is still ongoing. Hopefully, no more lives will be lost, and the people who are behind this will come to justice."

It's akin to people starting threads such as:

"Hi everyone. My friend just passed away. I'm going through a rough patch."

Where people then respond with some form of:

"Wow, I really feel bad for you. I offer my sincere condolences to you and your family. You will be in my thoughts."

Pointless thread, like so many others.

But that is crazy and has got to suck. Maybe a comeback of the Spartans???
Show these people who the boss is.

OMG mods!!! Quick! Delete this post! It's in bad taste!

Don't forget to stroke your egos while you're at it, and make a tick on your "posts I've deleted" scoresheet.

[feqlmwtuqx]

To be honest, I think my posts are more useful than the generic ones.

What is a generic one you may ask?

"Yes, I've heard about this recent tragedy that is still ongoing. Hopefully, no more lives will be lost, and the people who are behind this will come to justice."

It's akin to people starting threads such as:

"Hi everyone. My friend just passed away. I'm going through a rough patch."

Where people then respond with some form of:

"Wow, I really feel bad for you. I offer my sincere condolences to you and your family. You will be in my thoughts."

Pointless thread, like so many others.


OMG mods!!! Quick! Delete this post! It's in bad taste!

Don't forget to stroke your egos while you're at it, and make a tick on your "posts I've deleted" scoresheet.

Nope, the posts you're deriding can be a comfort to some but your's are just rubbing it in.

Re the speed of the fire - under the right conditions they can move at well over 30mph - I doubt anyone can outrun that - as has been pointed out, most fatalities were from people being trapped, for a variety of reasons.
If you can't avoid the fire, the conventional recommendation, IIRC, is to try and conceal yourself in a depression or low area and cover yourself with a fire resistant covering while the fire blows over you. i would expect a hole dug in the ground with a heavy table top over it would work quite well as it'd take some time to burn through it.
You should not forget the effect of the radiant heat from the fire front - it can be great enough to ignite flammable substances some distance away.
These fires are a horrible thing and, TBH, I wouldn't blame people if they left arsonists tied up in front of the flame front - it's manslaughter or murder what they're doing.

[Grapappytek]

At this point the news couldn't get any worse. Ancient Olympia , the birth place of the Olympic Games is about to burn to the ground...