The memory of those who did not return from the battlefield and sacrificed their lives on the altar of duty to protect the natural environment, property and above all the lives of our fellow human beings, is honored today and every November 12 by the Fire Brigade.

November 12th has been established as “Day of Remembrance of Fallen Firefighters” in honor of the first firefighter, cadet firefighter 2nd class Konstantinos Poulios, who lost his life 80 years ago while extinguishing a fire in a two-story building on Theotokopoulou Street, in Thessaloniki, but also of all those who lost their lives in the line of duty. This year, this day also coincides with the Mobile Firefighter Honor Day.

The due honor was given to the fallen firefighters at the main ceremony held at the Memorial of Fallen Firefighters, at the premises of the Regional Fire Administration, in Chalandri, Attica. After the laying of wreaths, a memorial prayer was recited by the head of the religious service of ELAS, policeman 2nd Archimandrite Alexios Kourtesis.

“… There are people who have chosen as a profession to protect our fellow human beings. Even at the risk of their own lives. These are our firefighters. They rush into the flames with self-sacrifice and self-denial to save a child, a family, a grandfather whose house is in danger. Today we honor our firefighters who fell in the line of duty. Who died to protect the rest of us. I stand with emotion among their colleagues and declare that we will never forget them. I ask everyone, citizens, local government and state, to do everything we can at the level of prevention to help the Fire Service do its job in forest and urban fires. It is the least we can do for these people but also in memory of their colleagues who were lost in the line of duty”, emphasized the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikilias, in the greeting he addressed, placing particular emphasis on today.

“In the long history of the Fire Department, a long, unfortunately, list of colleagues who have lost their lives in the line of duty, has “marked” its successful course in all areas of its activity. These colleagues, with vision, bravery and devotion to duty put themselves above all other individual calculations in order to serve the values ​​and ideals of the firefighter. It is with a feeling of deep gratitude and sacred emotion that we honor and remember those people who sacrificed themselves defending our own safety,” the Fire Department said in a statement.

“… Today is undoubtedly a great and special day for the Fire Department because November 12th has been established as Veterans Day, but this year it coincides with Veterans Honor Day. The retirees of the Fire Department, with their work, presence and example, created the legacy that encompasses the history and shapes the course and future of the Department. They are the colleagues who, with their hard and continuous work, with effort and toil, sometimes with their sacrifice, have allowed us younger people to be proud of the path that the Fire Brigade has taken. So we are here to thank them and express our immense gratitude for what they have offered us. In addition, today we pay tribute to our colleagues, friends, our own people, who sacrificed themselves in order to defend the life and property of our fellow human beings. The pain of such a loss is unbearable and words in these cases are thankless, but we have a sacred duty to remember the heroic deeds and self-sacrifice of our colleagues and to take an oath, non-negotiable and absolutely firm, that we will defend the ideals for which they fell and which identify and define the course and mission of the Corps over time. The promise that we give to our fellow heroes is that their sacrifice was not in vain and they are recognized in the consciousness not only of ours, but also of all Greek citizens. We will continue their work always guided by professionalism and a sense of responsibility towards the Greek citizen”, he pointed out, among other things, in the Order of the Day read by the head of the Fire Brigade, Lieutenant General Georgios Pournaras.

Afterwards, an invitation to the fallen was held and wreaths were laid at the Fallen Firefighters Memorial, by the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikilia, the Deputy Minister, Evangelos Tournas, the Minister of Civil Protection, Vasilios Papageorgiou, the Chief of the Fire Department, Lieutenant General Georgios Pournaras, the deputy head of the Corps, lieutenant general Marios Apostolidis, by relatives of the fallen, by representatives of the PS trade unions, the Five-Year Obligation Firefighters, contract firefighters, volunteer firefighters, the PS Civilian Staff Association and PS ex-military associations.

The ceremony was also attended by the deputy regional governor of the Northern Sector of Athens, Loukia Kefalogianni, the secretary of the Civil Protection Sector, Michalis Halaris as a representative of the president of PASOK-KINAL, the deputy of the 2nd West Attica, Christos Tsokanis, as a representative of the KKE, the deputy mayor of Town and Politics of the Protection of Chalandrio, Dimitris Christoulakis as the representative of the mayor of Chalandrio, Lieutenant General Athanasios Saplaouras as the representative of the head of the General Staff and the Chief of General Staff, Captain Ioannis Gianniotis as the representative of the General Staff, Brigadier General Odysseus Paxinos as the representative of the Chief of General Staff, Major General Charalambos Kalogiros as representative of the leader of ELAS and the lieutenant general Antonios Mazis as representative of the leader of LS-ELAKT.

From the side of the Fire Brigade, the commander of the Fire Academy, Lt. Gen. Dimitrios Kalianiotis, the head of the Administrative Support Branch, Lt. Gen. Dimosthenis Ragavas, the commander PE.PY.D. Attica, Major General Dimitrios Patrakis, the head of the Fire Operations Branch, Major General Athanasios Balafas, senior and senior officers of the Directorates of the Fire Brigade, the Fire Academy, the Fire Academy, the Fire Brigade .D. Attica, of the 1st E.M.A.K., the 1st EMODE, the E.S.KE.DI.K. of the Health Service, the Air Transport Service, the Water Transport Service, the TA.P.A.S.A. D.I.P.Y.L. and the Fire Museum.

Also, a memorial service was held at the Memorial of Fallen Firefighters in Thessaloniki, at the Office of the Operations Coordinator K.M.A.M.Th. Afterwards, wreaths were laid by the relatives of the fallen, the Member of Parliament for Thessaloniki Efstratios Simopoulos, the Member of Parliament for Thessaloniki Rania Thraskia, the Member of Parliament for Thessaloniki Simeon Koupeloglou, the representative of the regional governor of Central Macedonia and deputy regional governor for Transport and Communications, Doris Sokratis , the representative of the mayor of Thessaloniki, deputy mayor of the Environment, Theotokatos Erotokritos, the coordinator of Operations for Central Macedonia, Eastern Macedonia and Thrace, Major General Dimitrios Karasavvidis, from representatives of political parties and municipal authorities, from representatives of associations of retired police officers and firefighters, trade unions, voluntary organizations, as well as businesses operating in the PE of Thessaloniki.

The ceremony was graced by the presence of Anna Efthymiou, the Member of Parliament for Thessaloniki, Stavros Kalafatis, the Member of Parliament for Thessaloniki, Konstantinos Giulekas, the Mayor of Kalamaria, Ioannis Dardamanelis, the Inspector General of the Police of Northern Greece, Lieutenant General Spyridon Sklavos, the representative of the Greek SS/NRDC-GR, colonel Kladakis Stefanos, mayors of the Municipality of Thessaloniki, representatives of the Armed Forces and Security Forces, representatives of organizations, institutions and associations, representatives of associations and associations of veterans of the Armed Forces and Security Forces, presidents and representatives of trade unions federations, associations of Fire Department employees and representatives of Voluntary Civil Protection Groups.

From the side of the Fire Brigade, the commander of the PE.PY.D. of Central Macedonia, Lieutenant General Konstantinos Dadoudis, the commander of the Fire Service Administration of the Prefecture of Thessaloniki, chief fire chief Theodoros Kosmidis, commanders of services and heads of departments and offices of the service, delegations of employees and volunteer firefighters.

Similar memorial prayers were held at the Fire Service Memorials of the territory, in the presence of relatives as well as retired and active colleagues.