Ikaria: Fire Memorial 16/07/2020

An easy hike to the Fire Memorial along a dirt road just below the Atheras ridge. Approximately 2 km into the hike there is a gate you will need to open (it's for the goats, make sure to close it again).

Some background information I found online:

"The fire started at 14:30 on July 30, 1993. There were two fire starts north of the town of Agios Kirikos. They were later attributed to arson. According to witnesses, it took the weak firefighting forces on the island more than an hour to arrive on the scene. The wind was blowing at about 8 Beaufort scale force (the usual NE wind called "meltemi" that blows at this time of the year in the Aegean). The fire soon reached the settlements Glaredes and Kountouma where houses were intermixed with forest and agricultural vegetation. People tried to leave in panic. On one occasion, five people perished when they tried to flee with their car. In the smoke they had a collision. They were caught by the smoke and flames as they were trying to leave the damaged car. In another case, three young men tried to help three old people to evacuate their home. They were all caught in the open by the flames and perished. The three young men are considered as heroes in Ikaria and a monument has been built to commemorate their sacrifice. The final toll was 13 people dead, many more injured, 35 destroyed houses, and 400 ha of pine forest and agricultural land burned."

Source: https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Gavriil_Xanthopoulos/publication/242307152_Forest_fire_related_deaths_in_Greece_confirming_what_we_already_know_1/links/5601114c08ae07629e52b779/Forest-fire-related-deaths-in-Greece-confirming-what-we-already-know-1.pdf