STORY: 19,000 people were forced to flee from the Greek Island of Rhodes last July as flames engulfed the popular tourist spot.

It was one of the biggest disaster evacuations in Greece's history.

As another summer approaches, and as climate change makes wildfires ever more deadly across southern Europe, Greece has developed a new doctrine to contain the damage.

But some experts say the new initiatives don't address shortfalls in planning and prevention, and that more devastation awaits.

The situation is especially dire in Greece, which has just recorded its warmest winter on record.

This creates ideal conditions for fires that threaten crops, homes, and the booming tourism industry.

Fires this year have begun earlier than expected too, including one in March in a mountainous area normally blanketed by snow.

Minister for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Vassilis Kikilias told Reuters the season will be tough.

"We are going to have a very difficult fire season. The climate crisis is here, I think everyone sees that it the weather changes are extreme, we had a very dry winter, basically the heat and the autumn lasted until December. We have had little rain and snow."

Greece has made strides to combat fires, including building firebreaks around power poles in forested areas and stepping up training.

Under a $2.25 billion plan, Greece has tendered more than 1,000 fire engines and seven DHC-515 firefighting aircraft, with plans to install sensors to detect smoke.

700 additional forest rangers have been hired this year.

Crews have cleared 29, 000 acres of forest since 2022 and another 17,000 acres will be completed by the end of May, the environment ministry said.

But five firefighters and three experts say this isn't enough.

The cleared forests make up only a tiny fraction of the nearly 18.5 million acres of Greek woodland.

And some of the tendered trucks and aircraft will not be delivered for years.

A fire meteorologist at the National Observatory of Athens says fire supression alone won't work - an integrated fire management strategy needs to be adopted.

Time is running out with temperatures beginning to rise.

An anxious summer lies ahead.