Firefighters and civilians battling the nine-day wildfires ravaging Rhodes are contending with continuous flare-ups fuelled by unpredictable winds, as temperatures neared a scorching 40C. Greece’s civil protection agency extended the state of emergency across the entirety of Rhodes on Wednesday, which will remain in place for six months, “to deal with emergencies and manage the consequences of catastrophic forestry fire”. In the town of Malonas, which was evacuated on Saturday, The Independent watched on alongside exhausted volunteers as a section of the charred forest nearby reignited. The handful of volunteers gathered outside St George’s Church stood up to watch as a firefighting plane flew overhead, dousing the flames in water – as smoke continued to rise skywards. They expected to venture out again alongside hundreds, if not thousands, of other civilians on Wednesday night to do what they could to keep the fires at bay – having fought back the flames as they encroached on the sleepy inland town just the night before. “We have no energy, we have no power – not enough to stop this ... We are waiting for the wind to calm down to try again tonight to finish the job, but it is very difficult because after 10 days everyone is very tired,” a volunteer named Panos said, adding: “I’m going to sleep now for one hour.” He spoke as firefighters were mobilised to the nearby village of Apollona, while fires also burned further south in Vati and Gennadi. “The fires have started again,” a fire service official told The Independent. “A little wind and the fire returns … That’s the problem.” Having been told to evacuate both Malonas and nearby Kalathos at the weekend, Miles and Tristan, both in their 50s and originally from England, returned to Tristan’s house in Malonas on Wednesday to bring his four cats home. After receiving the “stressful” emergency alert telling them to leave Kalathos for either Kallithea – which they felt at the time was unsafe – or Lindos, where locals had already been told it was safe to return and where they knew a hotel manager who could put them up for the night. “Even if we’re just camping down on sofas in the hotel reception, it’s shelter, whereas if we went to Kallithea we would literally be on the street,” said Tristan. Speaking in the entrance to Tristan’s home as a firefighting plane flew overhead, dropping water a short distance away, the pair said they now planned to stay put. “We’re fed up with it now,” said Miles, an artist who has lived in Rhodes for 17 years. Tristan added: “Also, now [the authorities] are willing to allow everyone to help [keep flare-ups at bay], whereas before they just didn’t want the complications of it – non-Greek speakers being where they are [with] no skills, no car. I haven’t even got boots. They said ‘what are you going to do: walk over the ground in trainers? They’re just going to melt.” Describing a “pattern” of flare-ups each afternoon, Tristan said: “It’s been almost identical for three days, it’s really weird.” Miles added: “Clear in the morning. By the afternoon, the sky’s gone dark ... there’s smoke everywhere, and you can see it for miles.” However, the skies remained clear as they spoke – prior to the individual flare-up witnessed by The Independent some 15 minutes later. “That’s why the helicopters are flying over now, they’re damping down near the edges to try and make sure it doesn’t come back,” said Miles. Read More Infernos, black skies and fleeing tourists: Greece wildfires in pictures as blazes ravage Corfu and Rhodes Summer holidays to fire-hit Rhodes on sale for just £295 – half the usual price Tragic 'last words' of hero pilots who died in plane crash fighting Greek wildfires Tourists flying into Greece inferno reveal why they refuse to cancel holiday

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The Florida attorney general has defended Governor Ron DeSantis after he discouraged looters and referenced signs put up saying “you loot, we shoot”. On Wednesday, the governor said, “Just to remind potential looters … you never know what you’re walking into. People have a right to defend their property. This part of Florida, you got a lot of advocates and proponents of the Second Amendment”. “And I’ve seen signs in different people’s yards in the past after these disasters and I would say it’s probably here, ‘you loot we shoot’. You never know what’s behind that door,” he added. Attorney General Ashley Moody defended those remarks on Fox Business on Friday, saying: “This is a law and order state. We’ll enforce the law.” On 30 August, Mr DeSantis said: “There are reports of people trying to loot down in Steinhatchiee.” “I’ve told all of our personnel at the state level … protect people’s property and we are not going to tolerate any looting in the aftermath of a natural disaster,” he added. “It’s just ridiculous that you would try to do something like that, on the heels of an almost category four hurricane hitting this community.” “If you go break into somebody’s house, and you’re trying to loot. These are people that are going to be able to defend themselves and their families so I would not do it,” the governor warned. “We are going to hold you accountable from a law enforcement perspective at a minimum and it could even be worse than that, depending on what’s behind that door. So let’s all band together and lift people up and not try to take advantage of a difficult situation.” Ms Moody went on to say that “the reason why we have so few deaths is because folks in Florida heeded the warnings to evacuate when they were told to do so by local authorities”. “When people leave, they have to trust that their property is going to be safe because of our approach to law and order,” she added. “I’ve had discussions with all of the state attorneys that have been involved with the jurisdictions and the storm. They are committed to ensuring that if people loot and take advantage of folks in their time of need, they will be held accountable.” “Holding them during that pre-trial detention period is so important,” Ms Moody told Fox Business. “If they get back out, they go right back to the areas that have been affected. hat is dangerous for our first responders [who] are trying to manage things on the ground, to have them distracted like that.” “This is a way that Florida stands out from other states around the nation. We hold people accountable, and we enforce the law. It’s very easy to do if you’re committed to it,” she said. “And I would suggest other leaders and other states take a look at how they’re approaching criminal justice. They might see the strength of their cities and their states improve.” Read More Hurricane Idalia - latest: Biden requests billions more in disaster relief as photos show storm’s destruction Florida mural of murdered journalist is defaced with anti-LGBT+ graffiti Ron DeSantis goes to extreme lengths to dodge questions from 15-year-old

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