A woman who was forced to leave her home because of the Rhodes fires said she is unsure of whether she still owns it.
Cathy Holloway, who is originally from Bristol, relocated to Rhodes in 2020 and now works with tourists there.
"Everybody's on edge," she said. You're wondering if something is coming for you as you watch the smoke cover the sky. ".
She claimed that on Sunday afternoon, she received an evacuation order from the government that essentially said, "Get out now.".
Despite the fact that the south-eastern and central regions of the island were engulfed in fires, an easyjet flight earlier carried vacationers from Bristol to Rhodes.
If you have a reservation to go to or from Rhodes before July 29, our flights are still running, according to an easyjet spokesperson. ".
They have, however, provided a change of flight or voucher to anyone wishing to alter their travel arrangements.
In addition to their regular flights, Easyjet and Jet2 are running repatriation flights from Rhodes.
We've had a few small fires in the past, but nothing on this scale, Ms. Holloway said to BBC Radio Bristol. ".
She claimed that her home's balcony faced the fires, allowing her to see the smoke in the distance.
When Kiotari burst into flames on the day things really got going, we could see the smoke descending in that direction quite strongly.
Then, yesterday, as the smoke was returning in our direction, I wasn't shocked when I was instructed to leave.
You grabbed what you could and left because you could smell it and knew it was close by. ".
Although she is currently staying with Greek friends, she claimed she ended up in Rhodes town "on a hotel conference room floor, which was less than comfortable.".
She stated that because the weather has been so dry and hot for so long, she believes it may take a week for the authorities to get it under control.
It's like a nice big bonfire that someone lit a match to because the island's interior is entirely covered in forest, making it a tinder box. ".
She praised the "fabulous" work of the locals and firefighters.
I noticed bus after bus after bus going down empty to pick up the [tourists] because I live on the main road.
"I know it could have been done better, but I have to say the Greeks are working incredibly hard to assist everyone while also putting out the fire.
"The locals here have come together tremendously, and I'm hearing wonderful accounts of them bringing food to people, taking them in and providing them with a place to stay for the night, and generally doing their best to assist people who are stranded here. ".
Ms. Holloway claimed that the sky was now clear and that she might go back home, but added that she would have to "wait and see" because she was unsure whether or not her house had survived.
I'm a very practical person; I have my passport, my credit card, my phone, and my son told me that if I needed a flight, he would look for me and meet me at the airport. ".
Simon Wheatley, a Cheltenham resident, along with his pregnant fiancée and son, 3, had to leave their hotel and was looking for other lodging for the upcoming nights.
While others at the hotel had to wait for shuttle buses or taxis, Mr. Wheatley claimed that his family was "one of the lucky ones" because they had a rental car.
The air was already unbearable, so some people tried to breathe more effectively by covering their mouths with wet t-shirts.
"It was like a bad November bonfire night; the smoke was intolerable. ".
Wildfires have also affected Corfu, forcing nearly 2,500 residents to flee.
The 56-year-old Bristol resident Roz Stewart-Hall is on a TUI vacation in Corfu with her wife and child and is staying at the Mareblue Beach Resort.
They still have three days left of their vacation, but after spotting wildfires getting closer, they said they didn't feel comfortable staying.
"My wife spoke to the TUI representative, and they said advice was to stay put because fortunately the wind is blowing in the opposite direction," Ms. Stewart-Hall said. We weren't reassured in any way. .
They were also told by the hotel that if there were any problems, an alarm would go off at night. .
Ms. Stewart-Hall expressed concern for being crushed and said she was afraid there would be "mass panic" if that happened.
He picked them up in the middle of the night so they could feel safer. Her wife's brother and his family are staying on the island in a villa just under two hours away.
According to Ms. Stewart-Hall, she could "see the fires on the horizon and that was chilling as you could see the full size of the fires" as they were driving away. .
Theofanis Skembris, the deputy mayor of North Corfu, told the BBC that he thinks "everything will be over soon" and that the majority of the fires are now under control.
Salisbury resident Stephen Lancaster claimed that on Sunday, he took a flight from Bournemouth to Rhodes.
The fire over here caused a delay of an hour. After an hour, we finally left.
"So they must have known our hotel or anybody else's hotel, that we will not [be able to] go back into it.
"I don't understand why they still flew us over - why didn't they say it's the wildfires, you can't come over?".
. Then when we landed here last night, all the hotels were evacuated
