Greek wildfires: Couple honeymooned in Rhodes school as fires raged

Jamie McCafferty says the people of Rhodes were amazing during their ordeal

A couple from Northern Ireland spent their honeymoon in Rhodes sleeping at a school basketball court rather than their hotel.

The Greek island has been affected by wildfires for a week due to strong winds and temperatures exceeding 40C.

The fires have caused destruction to parts of the island as well as significant disruption to flights and holiday plans.

Jamie McCafferty travelled to the island with his wife Hannah.

"The conditions weren't five stars," he said.

"Once we arrived we then proceeded to try and find the Tui reps in order to just get travel in order to go to our hotel."

"As soon as I spoke to the girl she just literally said 'no it's not going to happen'."

Mr McCafferty said that after multiple hours of waiting, they were taken to a centre to receive food and water.

"Then we just never left," he said .

"We got taken to a school basketball court and then that was where we spent the next couple of nights.

"The Rhodes community I can't commend enough, they were just amazing."

The wildfires have caused destruction and disruption to large parts of Rhodes

Mr McCafferty said he and his wife did not become aware of the wildfires until the night before they were due to fly.

He added that as far as he was aware the fires had been contained and were not in the area near their hotel.

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"I spoke to one of the volunteers who kindly drove us to the airport," said Mr McCafferty.

"She said the fires had been going on since Thursday and they've just been spreading."

"And we went out on Saturday so that's two full days of the fire getting bigger, spreading very fast."

"So in my opinion it should have been addressed a lot quicker and we shouldn't have been out there."

About 19,000 people have been evacuated from areas hit hardest by the fires.

Firefighters from other EU countries and Turkey have been deployed to assist with bringing the fires under control.

The Greek islands of Corfu and Evia also issued evacuation orders on Monday as strong winds caused flames to spread.

Climate change

Climate change increases the risk of the hot, dry weather that is likely to fuel wildfires.

The world has already warmed by about 1.1C since the industrial era began and temperatures will keep rising unless governments around the world make steep cuts to carbon emissions, experts say.

The UK government said it was "reviewing the situation carefully" but it did not want to act out of proportion with situation on the ground with fires affecting "a limited area" on the island.

The UK Foreign Office urged British nationals affected by the fires to follow the guidance of the emergency services.

It advises in the first instance to contact airlines or travel operators who can assist with return travel to the UK.

The Republic of Ireland's Department of Foreign Affairs said citizens "should stay away from the affected areas and move rapidly out of any areas affected", while staying "fully informed of what is going on by monitoring local news and social media".