Continuing his tour of Lesvos, the President of PASOK-Movement for Change, Nikos Androulakis, visited the Mytilini Fire Service on Monday morning.
Mr. Androulakis spoke with the men of the fire brigade, the seasonal firefighters and the volunteers who help every summer.
In his statements, Mr. Androulakis emphasized, among other things:
I express my gratitude, because your offer is very large throughout Greece. Unfortunately, the coming years will be even more difficult, as the scientific community says.
Climate change will affect all Mediterranean countries. Conditions are difficult, facts are changing and we have to prepare. If we put what happened last year in our country – in Dadia where we had the biggest fire in Europe, in Evia, in Rhodes and in many other parts of the country with smaller disasters – the message is clear.
That, yes, we need to have a lot of aerial means, but we need to invest in prevention.
I have played a leading role in the joint order of Canadair from several European countries so that Greece can get the seven modern planes – because there was no production line – and even at a reduced cost of around 30%, while we will get two Canadairs through the mechanism .
Aerial media helps you a lot in your work. We need these modern means also for the safety of our pilots. But, if we do not invest in prevention, and indeed with modern civil protection plans, upgraded based on best practices of other countries of the European Union, in my humble opinion the problem is not being addressed.
Unfortunately, our country is far behind in prevention. And in clearing forests and in issues that have to do with modern means. I hope that Aegis will run as soon as possible, so that the new data can be made available to you in the fight once morest the climate crisis. But for us, I repeat, prevention is key. Fires “go out” in winter. The better prepared we are, the faster and more purposefully we can deal with this new reality.
I want to underline that last year, while we had fewer outbreaks, we had more disasters. And this shows the weaknesses. Therefore, invest in prevention.
We will be by your side. I have also discussed other times with your union body and the problems you are facing. We have said that seasonal firefighters should also be used in the winter months. We can use them in many fields that have to do with prevention, as they have knowledge.
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