ATHENS – The year 2021 was the worst on record between 2008 and 2020 – a total of 13 years – for the total amount of land burnt in Greece in one year, the National Observatory of Athens (NOA) meteo gr service said on Tuesday.

Based on data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), there were 84 forest fire events in Greece in 2021, which burnt more than 130,000 hectares in total. This was more than in all the years from 2008 onward, while the total area of land burnt in 2021 was roughly equal to the sum of that burnt in the eight years between 2013 and 2020.

It was also the worst year for the average land burnt per forest fire, which exceeded 150 hectares in 2021, up from an average of 50 hectares in the previous 13 years.

Ahead of the 2022 fire season in five months, meteo stressed the need to review forest fire prevention practices and fire-fighting preparations.