Whanganui family witnesses panic evacuations in Greece due to wildfires

Scott Aspinall, Angela Aspinall and Imelda Aspinall with children Felix and Hazel on holiday in Greece.

A Whanganui family on holiday in Greece says panic evacuations took place as “the sky was covered in ash and smoke”.

Fires have been raging in Greece for a week, with temperatures soaring across Europe. As firefighting planes from Turkey joined the effort to control the spread of wildfires on the island of Rhodes, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during a parliamentary debate: “We are at war - completely focused on the fires.”

UK-based Scott Aspinall, who grew up in Whanganui, said his family - including his wife Imelda Aspinall, their children Felix and Hazel, and Whanganui-based mother Angela Aspinall - arrived in Kalathos on July 18.

Two days into the trip, he noticed a strange smell from the balcony of their hotel, the Atrium Palace.

“It smelled like a barbecue or someone smoking - it was that strong, burning wood smell.

“Over the next few days it just progressed, and by the afternoon, one side of the sky was covered in ash and smoke. You could no longer see the nearby hills.

“On our balcony, there was just ash everywhere, and you’d get black feet if you walked out.”

UCOL Whanganui administrator Angela Aspinall said the gravity of the situation dawned on the family during an afternoon swim.

“We were sitting in the Mediterranean Sea in this crystal-clear blue water and we saw these water planes flying overhead; they were landing to refill their water supply to fight the fires.

“It was like something out of a movie.”

Scott Aspinall said he received five emergency alert texts on his phone from the Greek authorities, with two saying people staying in Kalathos should evacuate.

Angela Aspinall said tourists at the hotel began panicking.

“A lot of people just dropped everything and ran; it was so hot it was unbearable to even walk down the road, and they were running into 40C heat.

“We had a distinct feeling that if we evacuated, we would enter a cycle of chaos.”

Scott Aspinall said evacuating didn’t seem like a rational option for the family.

“It’s debilitating to walk any great length in that heat, and with two small children, I didn’t know how far we could manage.”

After talking to hotel staff members and local firefighters who reassured the family they were in a safe location, they made the decision to stay.

Evacuations from their hotel in Kalathos were voluntary, but many visitors decided to leave.

“It was amazing seeing the hotel staff still coming to work every day - a lot of their homes had been subjected to the fire, and my heart goes out to them.”

Angela Aspinall said their hotel became a base for firefighters and a safe place for other evacuated people from around the island.

“We were quite well positioned in this hotel and that was very, very lucky.”

The family was booked to fly out of Greece on July 25.

Imelda Aspinall said the wildfires were still an unfolding situation on Rhodes.

More than 19,000 tourists were evacuated by boats and buses from Southern Rhodes over the weekend.

“We were told last night the fires close to us were under control, and it started to thin yesterday evening, but we just don’t know.

“The locals are saying it’s still not over.”

Eva de Jong is a reporter for the Whanganui Chronicle covering health stories and general news. She began as a reporter in 2023.