The nightmare of Euboea, the island of Greece devoured by flames

(CNN) – Sometimes it seems that the air itself burns here in Euboea. The smell and taste of smoke are always present; the ashes fall from the sky like a gloomy confetti.

At the edge of the woods devoured by flames As tall as the trees themselves, exhausted firefighters mingle with desperate villagers. United in their fight against this relentless and voracious enemy, they fight to defend their lands, their homes and their livelihoods. For many, the battle is already lost.

Local youth and volunteers have supported firefighters in their efforts to fight the fires.

As the forests continue to burn, anger also simmers. Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s contrite admission that Greece’s response to these flames had “weaknesses” it has done little to quench the fury of those who have seen their homes burn.

It has simply come too late. “Now that the game is lost, now that everyone is coming, what is there to save?” Asks a young man.

Eight days of flames ravaging these virgin forests have left behind nothing but blackened branches and ashen ground. Twenty-two countries have sent personnel and equipment to help Greece. In Euboea, the front line of this growing disaster, we find Slovakian firefighters side by side with their Greek counterparts, while helicopters and planes buzz overhead throwing water onto the smoking ground.

Thousands of people have been forced to flee by sea from the island, located about 100 miles north of Athens. Credit: (AP Photo / Thodoris Nikolaou)

Among these professionals was perhaps the most striking image in this story: volunteers, mostly young men, armed with fire extinguishers or whatever water they could carry. Blackened with soot, their breathing ragged from days of exposure to smoke and flames, they seemed helpless.

The fight goes from one side to the other. There are times when the firefighters seem to have repelled their enemy and the flames are extinguished on the soggy ground, but these apparent victories can be fleeting. A single burning pinion, rolling down a road, can start a new fire on the other side. Fires are often reignited in the fierce and exhausting heat of the day. The mountainous terrain and dense forest make many fires simply inaccessible, so they are allowed to go their way unhindered.

Euboea is at the forefront of the devastating forest fires ravaging Greece.

Being in the middle of all of this is disorienting. The scorching heat, the suffocating smoke, the ferocity of the fires and the intense activity that surrounds them are difficult to assimilate. The sight of so many people watching their lives literally go up in smoke is heartbreaking.

“Right now, everyone is here, all of you are here getting these dramatic images,” one of the volunteers told me. “But in a year, where will they be?”

Many residents make a living from tree resin, used in industrial and agricultural products. Credit: ANGELOS TZORTZINIS / AFP via Getty Images

Without the forests, many in these communities will have nothing, he explained.

Trees are the source of the resin that sustains many livelihoods here. But these forests are not plantations; trees grew naturally on these hills and communities grew around them. Simple replanting won’t work either, because only mature trees produce resin, and reaching that maturity can take three decades.

More than 500 fires continue to ravage Greece. They may burn for many more days, perhaps even weeks, but their profound and devastating impact will be felt for a long time to come.