Family who were evacuated from Rhodes wildfires say they WILL return and relive moment 'nice breeze' was felt before hell was unleashed
- Did you escape the wildfires and will you return? Email: tips@dailymail.com
British families evacuated from Rhodes during last year's devastating wildfires have revealed they are considering returning this summer for a 'cathartic experience'.
As many as 10,000 UK tourists were estimated to have been staying on the Greek island at the time of the fires amid a searing heatwave at the end of July 2023.
Holidaymakers suffered 'frightening' experiences during the blazes and were rescued on repatriation flights after sleeping in schools, sports centres and airports.
Now, they have relived how they initially felt a 'nice breeze' before walking along the beach to get away from the fires which they could see burning towards them.
But while some say they will never go back, others are looking at returning to the same hotel this summer in an effort to have a better holiday at the second attempt.
Pine trees burning in a wildfire on Rhodes on July 22, 2023
Smoke billowing in the background of Kiotari village on the island of Rhodes on July 24, 2023
Tourists sit in the back of an open air lorry as they are evacuated in Rhodes on July 22, 2023
Holidaymaker Mark from Bristol told BBC Radio 4 show The Tourist Trap was on Rhodes at the time of the fires with his wife Vicky and their two teenage girls when.
He recalled that he went to his hotel bar for a drink at midnight upon their arrival in 36C (97F) heat, and said to the barman: 'I love that breeze' – but the barman replied: 'Yeah, it's not too great for the fires.'
Having spent the next morning in the pool and the beach, Mark could smell smoke in the air and spoke to local residents who said there was nothing to worry about.
But he added: 'You could see the ash dropping in the air, it almost looked like you had dandruff specs all over your shoulder. And when you looked over at the mountains at the back, you could just see what we told our youngest daughter was probably a sunset, orange glow - which turned out to be the fires coming over the hills.'
By the time they went to bed, the couple decided to pack everything in their suitcases – and then had a government alert on their phones to evacuate.
But nearly one year later, they are considering returning.
A woman enters the sea from a beach where wildfires destroyed the woods at Glystra near the village of Gennadi in the southern part of Rhodes on July 27, 2023
A fire as burns vegetation in the village of Gennadi in Rhodes on July 25, 2023
A firefighting aircraft drops water over a wildfire close to Vati in Rhodes on July 25, 2023
Mark said: 'We really enjoyed the very short time we had there. Part of us, we just said, let's just book the holiday again, let's see if we can conquer this terrible situation, and why would we not choose to go there?'
When it was pointed out to him that the wildfires could return this summer, he added that he had spoken to his wife in the past week about whether they were sure they should return.
But he continued: 'We will definitely keep an eye on it much closer than we did previously, but we just wanted that sunshine beach holiday.'
And he added that they had 'ironically' booked a holiday for 2025 to the somewhat cooler climes of Norway, so it is 'from one extreme to the other'.
Also speaking to the BBC programme was British holidaymaker Charlotte who went to Rhodes with her husband and children last July, expecting to stay for ten days.
She said: 'When we arrived, as we were on the coach we could see the smoke from the fires and helicopters dropping water on the fires, so it was obviously a bit sort of concerning.
Tourists wait in the departure hall of Rhodes Airport during evacuations on July 23, 2023
Smoke billowing in the background of Kiotari village in Rhodes on July 24, 2023
A man pulls a tree branch as a fire burns into the village of Gennadi in Rhodes, on July 25, 2023
'And we were only there for two nights, and both those two nights you could just smell really bad smoke, and in the morning there was ash on the balcony. And then it kind of all kicked off.'
She added that they were 'really frightened', and compared the bar still serving alcohol as being 'a bit like the Titanic, when they were playing in the orchestra with the ship going down, it was just really weird'.
Charlotte said that when they saw the smoke, somebody shouted 'walk' – and so they just started walking with thousands of other people along the beach.
She continued: 'It just felt essentially like the fire was chasing us, you could see the smoke.
'We walked for about five miles to one hotel and eventually it was kind of the middle of the night, and we were waiting outside of a hotel and you could see the flames getting really near, and that was when it started really frightening, waiting for the buses to turn up to get evacuated.'
A fireman gestures and holds a cat and two rabbits after rescuing them from a fire between the villages of Kiotari and Gennadi in Rhodes on July 24, 2023
A local man uses a tree branch to beat down the flames of a wildfire near the village of Vati in Rhodes on July 25, 2023
A deer runs with smoke in the background during a fire between the villages of Kiotari and Gennadi in Rhodes on July 24, 2023
They decided to stand on the outside of a group of thousands of people because the fire was getting so close and therefore thought they run from it towards the sea.
Charlotte said the experience had put her off going to Greece now, adding: 'I don't want to go back.'
But she continued: 'My son and my husband would really like to go back to the same hotel because it's almost like it's a cathartic experience. For me, I just point blank would not want to go back there.
'I mean we're going to Mallorca this year which I've been to and I don't consider to be as hot, but that doesn't necessarily mean that it's not going to happen there.
'We talked about going to Iceland, but then there's been volcanic eruptions there.'
BBC Radio 4 podcast The Tourist Trap is available on BBC Sounds
Did you escape the wildfires and will you return? Email: tips@dailymail.com
