Greek Premier Pledges to Boost Prevention Means to Avoid Fires
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(Bloomberg) -- Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis pledged to boost the country’s technological toolkit to prevent wildfires after his country suffered the most destructive blazes in 16 years.
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So far in 2023, wildfires have burned more than 628 square miles of forest in Greece, or 1.2% of the country’s total land area, compared to an average of just under 168 square miles a year for the period between 2006 and 2022, according to the European Union’s European Forest Fire Information System.
The situation in Greece has also mobilized the biggest-ever aerial firefighting operation via the EU’s civil protection mechanism, known as rescEU.
“Although we were better prepared than in any other year, we were faced with an unprecedented combination of events,” Mitsotakis told lawmakers on Thursday.
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It has been the warmest summer since authorities began tracking meteorological data, with intense and long heat waves followed by strong winds, said the premier, who is being criticized by the opposition for his handling of the situation.
“Future climatic projections indicate higher fire danger levels in Europe,” according to a European Commission report, which added that this will likely lead to more intense fires and larger areas affected by the burns.
The wildfire in the Evros region close to the border with Turkey in northeastern Greece started on Aug. 19 and is still burning. Having so far destroyed more than 312 square miles, the fire is the largest since 2000 within the EU.
The Greek fire service has so far recovered 19 burned bodies from areas in the region. The blazes have also scorched beehives and livestock, as well as animal feed and agricultural machinery. The authorities continue to evacuate villages to ensure that lives aren’t threatened.
Another wildfire broke out in an area near to the capital Athens on Aug. 22, which burned homes and other properties as well as part of the Parnitha mountain national park, one of the last remaining forests near the city. Fires broke out throughout the capital’s greater Attica region during the summer.
Among the measures that the Greek government plans to introduce to prevent fires in the coming years is to acquire 100 drones to monitor sensitive areas, install cameras in archaeological sites and forests and to hire around 500 firefighters.
The government will also redirect some €200 million ($217 million) from the EU’s Recovery and Resilience Fund to pay for the initiatives, Mitsotakis said.
--With assistance from Lyubov Pronina.
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