With the memorandum of cooperation, the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection seeks to improve the operational planning of this year’s fire fighting season, aiming to strengthen prevention.
“After 50 years of efforts, finally the DEDDIE, the ADMIE, the experts, the foresters, the Civil Protection, the fire brigade, we enter the forests to make fire zones. We need it. It is a sufficient and necessary condition for the protection of the overhead networks, PPC networks, but also for our fire brigades to be able to pass and deal with fires. It’s something that the Fire Department officials have asked me over and over again over the last few months as it relates to trying to support our firefighters, support our forest marshals, support foresters and rangers and all the people, those who enter and attempt in the forest, to give the possibility to the professionals, to the people who know and to those who move or have material in the forest, to help us so that we can defend it”, said the Minister of Climate Crisis and of Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikilias.
Mr. Kikilias pointed out that professionals will now be able to more easily access their networks, possibly maintain and supervise them, as well as the possibility for fire engines to enter the field more easily and quickly, as well as and possibly be able to use these zones for both fire protection and emergency response zones. “I hope it won’t be necessary for Attica, but we will all be there, we will all be organized, we will do it with a system, we will do it more professionally than ever and we will do it as always with self-denial,” he noted.
As he said, it had been a taboo for many years that “forests should be intact and no one could pass, enter or operate in them”, which he pointed out had fueled decades, creating huge problems. “This initiative of ours became a law of the state at the end of 2023 and now comes to be sealed with this memorandum of cooperation between the ministry, Civil Protection, the Fire Brigade, ADMIE and DEDDIE, who did not wait but have already acted”, noted Mr. Kikilias.
“We are not fooling ourselves, we know that we will face a very difficult fire season. Indeed, it was an arid year with very, very big challenges”, underlined Mr. Kikilias and added that the Fire Brigade will continue to fight its battles and make the maximum possible effort with professionalism and organization.
“Today is living proof that we can all work together to protect human lives, natural beauty and people’s property. The promise is one. To do everything humanly possible to fight great battles. In the summer we will have a very difficult period. I sincerely request all our fellow citizens to contribute and help in this effort. It is a national battle, a patriotic battle, it concerns us all and it has to do with our protection of our families, our people, our neighborhood or our island, the area where we live and live. Call 199 or 112 if you see something. Weed your plots and protect your properties yourself. Talk to our volunteers and professional firefighters, help them or guide them to a trouble spot. Let’s all show responsibility, let’s show that we really love our country”, concluded Mr. Kikilias.
“Since the summer of 2021, ADMIE has highlighted the need for today’s initiative. Thanks to the law passed by the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection in 2023, we are already starting in Attica, this year, in the fire season, the new fire zones and from next year we will expand and eventually they will be done all over Greece”, he noted from the on his side the president and managing director of ADMIE, Manoussos Manousakis while adding that the legislative regulation of 2023 is sealed today with the memorandum of cooperation.
As he said, ADMIE will carry out fire protection works around the high and extra high voltage transmission lines, initially covering 9 kilometers in 4 areas that the fire department has indicated to him as the most sensitive within Attica, Ymittos, Dionysos, Penteli and Parnitha “These works have already started. They will be completed in June. We are doing everything we can to complete them even earlier. Today as we speak, the crews to which the ADMIE has assigned the work, were in Hippocrates Politia where we all know the dangers that exist there”, pointed out Mr. Manousakis and emphasized that the frequency and intensity of the fires that occur as a result of the climate crisis lead to the need to take additional measures and especially this year when the risk is even more intense due to the prolonged drought observed. “So today’s memorandum of cooperation is one of these measures and aims to ensure and strengthen the resilience of the electricity transmission system and the environment of our country. The occurrence of fire under high and ultra-high voltage transmission lines, due to the change in humidity conditions, automatically puts transmission lines out of service, which involves interruptions and creates the risk of a total blackout with all that this entails,” noted Mr. Manousakis.
“Consequently, these projects also actively protect the transportation system”, he underlined after thanking Mr. Kikilia, who, as he mentioned, “understood the issue from the beginning he took over, which had been raised since 2021 in the forest offices and was finally imposed on self-evident, to be able to have these zones, the firewalls under the transmission lines.” “The extremely difficult situations that we all experienced in 2023, first with the great summer fires and then with Daniel, do not allow for any complacency about continuity. On the contrary, they show us that we all need to immediately adapt to the climate crisis and that is what we intend to do with all our strength”, he concluded.
For his part, the managing director of DEDDIE, Anastasios Manos, referred to the cooperation with the Fire Brigade, stressing that “together with DEDDIE, ADMIE and the firefighters we are constantly in the line of fire of snow and water, perhaps with different uniforms, it’s just that you can wear red uniforms and we can wear blue uniforms, but there on the line we are together.” Then Mr. Manos described the intense phenomena that were called to cooperate with the fire department, such as the Medea and Elpida storms, the fires of 2023 but also the Daniel storm and pointed out: “Preparation is everything for all of us.”
As he underlined, “every crisis is an opportunity for improvement”. “That’s the only way we deal with it. We do the analysis, we make our proposals. What can we improve as an organization and how will we do it better next time? Starting with Daniel, we saw the issue of green management. And in September together with Mr. Kikilia, the minister, we found ourselves in the middle of Daniel to hold the first meeting, in which we discussed what changes we can make. Politics, they say, is the art of the possible and the minister has turned it into practice with this legislation of 2023. With a spirit of cooperation, respect, appreciation, help and mutual support we can succeed”, he noted.
Finally, Mr. Manos pointed out that the field is very broad and only if everyone works together cooperatively as a team will they be able to succeed. “Already in Attica we have been given 32 areas to create zones and we are implementing them on time. If we have others, we clearly have a bright field of glory ahead of us to work together to succeed, both in the field and in the staff, because the danger that is out there of climate change, is at any time and without warning and only with a lot of effort and a lot of exercise will be done”, he concluded.
Finally, the head of the Forestry and Agroforestry Fire Fighting Planning department, Pyragos, Vassilis Karamanlis, referred to the need for close cooperation between the country’s agencies and services involved in forest firefighting, in order to deal effectively with forest fires. In addition, Mr. Karamanlis emphasized that measures such as the creation of fire protection zones and the clearing of vegetation inside or outside forests and woodlands, contribute to reducing the risk of fires, as well as strengthening the protection of residential areas and natural ecosystems, reducing at the same time the consequences in the event of a forest fire, especially in areas that are considered particularly dangerous for the occurrence of forest fires. “The opening of fire zones is a critical preventive measure and limits the occurrence and spread of forest fires,” he stressed.
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