English: Fires burned across Greece in late July 2016, sending large plumes of smoke across the Aegean Sea. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) aboard NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this true-color image on July 25.

A state of emergency has been declared on the island of Chios due to the fire that broke out early in the morning hours of July 25. Dozens of firefighters and equipment were dispatched to fight the fire which quickly spread due to high temperatures, dry conditions, and high winds. The fire is threatening olive groves and mastic trees which are both sources of income for the small island. As of July 28, the destruction of the mastic trees on the island has been reported at 90 percent. Chios sits in the northwest, and the smoke from these fires blows toward the southwest to cross Crete. A second cluster of wildfires burns southeast of Marmari, Greece and also pours copious smoke across the Aegean.

According to an article in Daily Hellas on July 28, about 150,000 acres of forest and agricultural land has burned so far this year, an increase from the approximately 80,000 acres burned last year and 100,000 consumed in the 2014 fire season. In 2016, the island of Chios has lost 53,420 acres, fire consumed 15,150 acres near Marmari, and a fire near Gonni destroyed 9,140 acres.