Eleni Myrivili stands on a rooftop in Athens as a smoke cloud from a fire approximately 15 miles north of the city covers the sky above, Aug. 3, 2021.
Lydia Emmanouilidou/The World
At a rooftop cafe in the center of Athens, Eleni Myrivili stared up at the sky on Tuesday as white ash dropped from a thick, gray cloud of smoke that hung above her and covered much of the Greek capital’s skyline.
Approximately 15 miles north, a wildfire ravaged the Athens suburb of Varympompi.
“It's very ominous,” Myrivili said as the ash fell on her hair and in her drink. “It feels like this might be a prequel to what the future of this city might be like.”
Southeastern Europe is experiencing one of its worst heat waves in decades. And officials are working to put out wildfires across the region in Greece, Italy, Croatia, Albania and Turkey.
Eleni Myrivili stands on a rooftop in Athens as a smoke cloud from a fire approximately 15 miles north of the city covers the sky above, Aug. 3, 2021.
Lydia Emmanouilidou/The World
As dozens of fires rage around Greece and temperatures reach all-time record highs this week, Myrivili is stepping into her new role as Athens’ newly-appointed and first-ever chief heat officer.
Myrivili, who’s the former deputy mayor of Athens for urban nature and climate change resilience, is the first person in Europe to be granted the title and only the second in the world, as part of an initiative led by the Atlantic Council’s Adrienne Arsht-Rockefeller Foundation Resilience Center.
Miami-Dade county in Florida also appointed a chief heat officer earlier this year. Freetown, Sierra Leone is expected to appoint its own official later this year.
A helicopter drops water over a fire in Varibobi area, northern Athens, Greece, Aug. 4, 2021.
Thanassis Stavrakis/AP
In Athens, Myrivili is tasked with finding ways to keep the city cool and its residents safe from extreme heat and heat waves, which researchers project will become longer and more common in future years due to climate change. Greece is currently in the midst of its worst heat wave in 30 years, with temperatures peaking at above a record-setting 115 degrees Fahrenheit on Monday.
Myrivili spoke with The World’s Lydia Emmanouilidou in Athens.
Restaurants in the Monastiraki area of Athens set up misting fans for people to cool off.
Lydia Emmanouilidou/The World
The Greek Red Cross was deployed on Tuesday to hand out water to homeless people in the area and to passersby, as temperatures reached 110 degrees Fahrenheit.
Lydia Emmanouilidou/The World
Smoke from a wildfire north of the Greek capital, spreads over Acropolis hill, in Athens, Greece, Aug. 3, 2021.
Aggelos Barai/AP
Eleni Myrivili is the first-ever chief heat officer in Athens, Greece, and in Europe
Lydia Emmanouilidou/The World
Questions and answers have been edited for clarity and length.
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