Allegations after forest fires: Greek inferno in Rhodes issued a notice

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Fires have been raging on the Greek island of Rhodes for almost a week and forest fires have also been raging on Corfu for a few days. The flames are out of control and the fire department is overwhelmed. Firefighting planes that have to extinguish the forest fires in Rhodes and Corfu are 40 years old.

Criticism of the government was leveled while the flames were still raging. Shortcomings in the organization of state measures are obvious, says the opposition party Syriza according to “Focus”. The government said they were prepared for fire. That promise, according to the party, collapsed like a house of cards.

Firefighters rescued

Since the state bankruptcy in 2010, the fire brigade has been rescued en masse. Before that, too, about a quarter of the 12,000 positions in the fire service were vacant. According to Syriza, there are still about 3,600 vacancies in the Greek fire service today. Instead of investing in firefighting, the Greek government only invested in upgrades and thousands of new police officers.

Large sums of money also flowed into the military: the Greek government recently purchased helicopters, fighter jets and warships. Spending on armaments rose from half a billion euros in 2019 to more than three billion euros in 2022. According to SRF, the cabinet also wants to hire 15,000 new professional soldiers by 2025.

Investments come too late

After the devastating fires in Athens, the government announced investments in the fire service. For the inhabitants of Rhodes and Corfu, however, these come too late. The mayor of Rhodes also complained on state television that the fire could have been extinguished more easily in the first days. At the time, the fire brigade was still fighting fires around Athens.

But even when the fire brigade arrives at the fire, they encounter difficulties. In the affected areas, the electricity often fails – and with it the water pumps. Since the Greek emergency services do not have self-sufficient pumps, they depend on the support of foreign fire brigades.

Thousands of private helpers also support the rescuers. By removing tourists from the areas with cars and boats and fighting the fires without protective clothing, they prevent an even greater catastrophe.

Source: Blick