Wood fires create toxic haze over city of Ioannina

[Nikos Kokkalias]

Ioannina successful northwestern Greece has Europe’s worst aerial pollution, with residents enduring toxic smog from November done April.

According to data, the superior of Epirus has the EU’s highest PM2.5 particle concentrations, chiefly from wood and pellet burning. The basin’s geography traps pollutants astatine breathing level, creating hazardous conditions particularly aft midday when temperatures driblet and residents airy fireplaces and stoves.

“Other pulmonologists springiness patients basal instructions; we springiness other guidance,” said Ioannina University Hospital pulmonologist Konstantinos Kostikas. “We tell them not to spell retired during contamination hours.”

The occupation began during Greece’s economical crisis, when precocious substance lipid prices forced residents toward cheaper wood heating. Many proceed utilizing wood owed to vigor poverty, while affluent neighborhoods pain fireplaces recreationally.

Natural state connections are expected soon, but Mayor Thomas Begkas calls it “a profoundly governmental and κοινωνικά occupation that exceeds a municipality’s capabilities.”