It's Wednesday 13th August and residents have just received another notification about the ongoing situation with the Kiliomenos wildfire.

The information we have, is that the fire has re-ignited itself, and is once more spreading and potentially going over the top of the mountains. 

A notification has been sent out to everyone as follows:
Wildfire in your area.
If you are in Mouzaki, Lagopodo, Romiri and Pantokratoras of Zakinthos move away to the City of Zakinthos.
Follow the instructions of the Authorities.

The fire department are working incredibly hard to battle the wildfire and it's hopeful that weather is in the islands favour.

Please stay safe, avoid heading to the mountains, or getting in the way of the suthorities at this time. Listen out for updates and follow any instructions given to you by the Fire Department and other island authorities.

 WThe situation in Lithakia seems to have improved for the moment, where a brave battle was fought during the night. The fire DID NOT reach the village area and residents were NOT evacuated. 
The Fire and Civil Protection forces, volunteer groups and the residents themselves fought an all-night battle with the flames in order to contain the fire that has been burning on our island since yesterday (12.08), causing incalculable destruction in forest areas and crops.
It is recalled that yesterday there was a serious problem in the Agalas area, where houses and a business burned down.
With the winds blowing fiercely throughout the day, the fire raged uncontrollably and fire fronts were springing up from everywhere. Initially, the direction of the fire moved towards the Keri area.
Last night, however, was very difficult for the village of Lithakia, with the wind direction directing the fire towards the villages Mouzaki and Pantokratoras as well.
According to information, following a special order, the back burning method was successfully used to contain the fire.
It is also noted that reinforcements have been on our island since yesterday. At this time, three planes are operating from the air, assisting the work of the ground forces. The picture is greatly improved, with a critical front being located above Lake Keri with continuous resurgences, especially in the Agalas area..
However, there seems to be a problem at the “Katalupou” location, where our fire forces are battling.  
KERI...After speaking with the Vice General Director Of Zakynthos, Mr. Kostasa Tsirigiotis we have been told that the road to Keri is open for those who would like to return to their accommodation, there is not a problem.  also reporter Dionysios Binioris told us that the cross roads at Denis Taverna in Lithakia which was closed yesterday is now open. 
Zakynthos Informer would like to re assure our visitors to our Island that ALL tourist resorts are safe and there is absolutely NO problem within resort areas. We do remind you though that we are on level four (Very High Fire Risk) meaning that ALL forest roads will be closed, the Castle and Shipwreck View Point. 
More updates will come later in the day.  

Night has fallen and the aerial help is no longer on the island of Zakynthos. The ERT news Zakynthos journalist, Andreas Papadimitriou reported on the ERTNEWS news bulletin at 20.00 the latest developments from the fire front that is burning the mountain region of our island. According to his response, the situation remains extremely difficult, as the strong winds are constantly changing direction, making it impossible to predict the course of the fire.

Agalas is already counting houses and businesses that have burnt, with the flames having invaded the village. At the moment, a large front is also raging in mountain area of Lithakia, while the total extent of the fire in Zakynthos reaches 20 kilometers, from Keri to Machairado. Despite the reinforcement of ground forces from Patras, the morphology of the terrain and the lack of aerial means – as only one helicopter was operating before sunset, making the fire difficult to extinguish.

Evacuations in Agalas and Keri took place early in the morning, while visitors were also removed from tourist units. 150 tourists from Keri and another 50 from Agala. All have been moved to other hotel premises and are safe. Residents are urged to strictly follow the instructions of the emergency services and the 112 emergency messages, as the situation can change within minutes.

The power outage in many areas creates additional obstacles, as the water pumps for water extraction can not be operated, making conditions for firefighting and for water tank vehicles difficult. At the same time, the atmosphere remains stifling, although in Lithakia the wind is currently blowing in a direction that reduces the smoke in the area.

Andreas Papadimitriou also conveyed the anguish of the residents, who remain on standby, while volunteers have been assisting since the morning, offering water, food and assistance to the fire crews. The next few hours are considered critical, with the authorities hoping for a weakening of the winds so that more drops can be made and the destruction to be limited.

According to the head of the Civil Protection of the Region, Maria Mouzaki, approximately 15 thousand acres of virgin forest and agricultural crops have been burnt so far. In an interview on the National t.v station Open, she mentioned that we are in for an extremely difficult night. 
At the moment it seems that the winds have dropped, lets hope that our fire services who are battling the fire now on the ground only have luck on their side and it is extinguished. 
Source:- zantetimes.gr. ​

It was a normal Friday night on Zakynthos when Zakynthos Informer spotted a breaking news Facebook post and video, that said a wildfire had broken out on the island. Immediately, the news spread and people started sharing it to Facebook, which started to cause concern and panic amongst locals and tourists.

Zakynthos Informer immediately checked the local news and their island contacts, including the fire department, only to discover there was no fire on the island. By this time, however, the post and its video, had been shared across Facebook 38 times and the video had over 30k views.

Zakynthos Informer tagged the post owners to say the information was incorrect, but the post remained live. They then messaged and tagged admins of other Zakynthos pages to let them know the information was wrong so that any shared posts could be removed.

The main posts still remained live with views and shares going up…spreading news across the world about the Zakynthos wildfire, that wasn’t…

Zakynthos Informer then directly messaged the original Facebook page owner, to explain the situation. Whilst waiting for a response, we screenshot the video image and uploaded it to Google reverse image search. The multiple return hits confirmed that the video was of a wildfire, on the mainland in the area of Agios Dimitris Koropi, Attiki.

Eventually, after receiving our messages and reverse image screenshot, the original post was taken down.

Be careful what you share! 

Millions of people use Facebook as their go to for information. At Zakynthos Informer we pride ourselves on getting the facts on anything that happens on our island, before posting. There are always two sides to a story and there can often be inconsistencies or fake news that ends up being innocently shared by Facebook users, which in the end can be incredibly harmful.

We’re not writing this post to “show off” or say “we saved the day” - we don’t care about that - we’re writing it to point out how badly misinformation can spread and cause serious upset and damage, and the steps it can take to sometimes get these situations resolved.

Last night there were parents on Facebook panicking about their children who were on holiday on Zakynthos.
Last night there were holidaymakers and visitors who worried that their holiday may have just turned into a nightmare.
Last night there were frustrated business owners and locals commenting to refute the information and being ignored.

None of this was necessary.

So please, before you share Facebook posts about the island and any serious incidents relating to it.
Stop and think.
​Is the post real?
Is the post from a reputable source?
Will the post do more harm than good?

We’re not the Facebook Police (what an awful job that would be right?), but we don’t want to see anyone upset or endangered because of inconsistent or fake posts, when a simple two minute check could go a long way to saving time, stress and a lot of aggravation.

If you'd like to learn more about the Do's an Don'ts of Fire Season we have some helpful advice on our website.