Emergency management

Wildfires that have scorched Greece for more than two weeks were on Saturday mostly under control, but firefighters remained in key hotspots with strong winds still a threat, officials said.

Three fires broke out on Saturday in the Peloponnese peninsula, with authorities protectively ordering the evacuation of four communities near the city of Pyrgos.

Beyond any inadequacies of the state in handling them, the intensity of the wildfires in Greece and the extent of the damage they caused, combined with the weather conditions, show that this is not a crisis that will simply pass.

The state of emergency declared in Rhodes on July 20 following the destructive wildfires that ravaged the island for more than 10 says was lifted on Saturday, the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection announced.

Residents and visitors received a notifications from the emergency number 112 to return safely to their places of residence.

As tourists start to trickle back to the Greek island of Rhodes, some people are spending their vacation on empty beaches amongst charred trees and burnt land.

The fires, spurred by a sweltering heat wave that blanketed the country, triggered a huge evacuation of residents and tourists on the island last weekend as forests burned for a week .

Pope Francis urged governments to do more to fight climate change and protect "our common home" as improving weather conditions Friday helped firefighters contain wildfires in Greece, Italy and other countries in southern Europe.

Firefighters battled a 51 new wild fires in the last 24 hours, bring to 96 the total number of active forest fires in the country.

In its latest update, the Fire Service said most of the new fires were tackled immediately in their initial stages.

A cloud of smoke rising above the blackened hillside surrounding the village of Vati marks the spot of the most recent flare-up on Rhodes of a wildfire that has been rampaging across the southeastern Aegean island for more than a week.

The European Commission announced on Thursday that it had mobilized a total of nine firefighting planes to contribute to efforts to put out the dozens of wildfires burning in the country.

"One of the largest mobilizations in recent years", noted European Commission Spokesperson Balazs Ujvari on social media.

Greek fire crews on Thursday scrambled to put out wildfires raging for two weeks around the country that left five dead before strong winds forecast for the day rekindle blazes.

Bringing the destructive wildfire under full control and protecting human life are the two main priorities for tourism professionals on Rhodes, who are also planning for the future.