His unwavering conviction that in the fire in Mati in 2018 “we did the best we could operationally, with the means we had” the then commander of the Unified Operations Coordination Center expressed during the second day of his apology to the Three-member Court of Misdemeanors Ioannis Fostieris who blamed the Coast Guard and the Police for decisions they made that affected the development of the tragedy.

The defendant, many allegations of which provoked reactions from the relatives of the victims of the deadly firechose at the conclusion of his apology to declare, invoking scientific opinions, that “the Eye died a hundred meters before the fire front passed Marathon from the superheated gases. First he died and then he burned. We couldn’t do anything. The aerial vehicles were measured beans and could not with such winds.’ He also claimed that there was no organized removal “because we would have 200 dead.”

According to the positions expressed in his apology by the former top official of the Fire Department, in the same way that they acted operationally in the Kineta fire, a little earlier on the day in question, they acted, taking into account the particularities of each case, and in the case of the fire at Eye: “Same principles and operations that took place in Kineta, took place in Mati as well. Did we love Western Attica and hate Eastern Attica? For God’s sake. If possible”.

During his examination from the bench, Mr. Fostieris blamed the Coast Guard, when he was asked about the non-mobilization of the Fire Department’s boats to rescue people from the sea: “The rescue is done by the Coast Guard!” he said in exasperation and continued: “They have loaded us with everything! The dinghies we have on our own boats are for our staff! We don’t do rescues! How are we going to get people on board with these Beauforts. What did the Coast Guard do? That was his job. Why didn’t he give orders the moment he saw this commotion, to keep the two ships of the line to lower boats and save people? We loaded that too. I was shaken out of my chair when I heard that the ships were unloading people. I say Marathon drowned. What did the Coast Guard do? Why do we have it? To hunt illegal immigrants?”

Accordingly, for the Police, Mr. Fostieris said that when he found out how he was driving the cars in Mati “I messed up”.

Referring again to the weather conditions, the head of ESKE at the time said: “If we had known that we would have a steady flow of wind, as we had in mind, but combined with gusts, we would have planned something else. What proposal should I make to the leadership? Do I have such an indication? Not at all… Where should ours go? My hands are tied. In aerials, the same… Aerials tremble they can’t make throws. Everyone has that panacea on a practical level, that “I’ll get airborne and put out some fire”. That’s why the fires are “opening”.

The defendant said that all the management they did at that time was over under a regime of means poverty and under pressure to contain costs due to the economic crisis. “Come to our place… Did we want people to suffer this damage? We lost our seats. Our lives have changed… We are currently under scrutiny for how we operate: This is how we operate as the Greek state had given us this. We had financial difficulties. At this time there is an economic possibility for aerial … At that time we were fighting with the four canards (meaning the 415 cl of the latest generation). The two (215 cl) canards are flying coffins … They fly in the red … Simply put … Don’t get me wrong, I’m not concerned – and I’m not talking about the God-damned! Unfortunately, these are our tools and these are our businesses, that’s why you see the fires “opening up”…” he said.

In response to a question about the diversion of the helicopter that started for Mati and was ordered to go to the refineries, Mr. Fostieris said how he received two phone calls from the businessman who requested that the ground forces be reinforced by aerial means and how he informed the physical and political leadership about it. This was followed by a third call to the refineries from the facilities safety engineer. “He’s not random! He has specialized knowledge. I’m not interested in the particular master, but the installation. Eif something happened we would have hundreds of thousands of victims. If there was an explosion, the whole refinery would be blown up.” said Mr. Fostieris to explain the priority in Corinth.

Referring to the Chinooks and why they did not fly from the ones the Air Force had made available to them, the accused said that the information they had was that the weather conditions did not allow the take-off. He even said that Chinook governor in Pachi had expressed safety fears and that this particular formula could not produce results, despite what people think.

His response provoked a reaction from a woman who shouted: “The Chinook kept the fire in Agia Marina and the people were there.” The presiding judge told her to leave the courtroom. “I’m sorry Madam President” the woman answered her and continued to leave in a scathing manner “we are the world that does not understand.”

Regarding the organized removal of the former commander of ESKE stated that no order was properly given; “Nobody knows the real number of how many people were in Mati. Let’s say there were at least 2,000 people… There was no infrastructure to safely receive 500 people. For someone to make the decision that the world is leaving. Where are you taking him? What has been said in your court is in the danger zone. Are we going to take people between warm and hot zones? No one will take responsibility to say leave! Where should they go? No one will take responsibility because that is where they will burn the world. We will reach the level of given felony… At least 200 people would have been burned if someone gave “removal” and some mayor was listening to him. I’m telling you honestly, I swear! I’m sorry, I’m really sorry. My life has changed. But this is the truth, like it or not! Then they would say “you gave the order and put the world at risk”. This is the reality. You can’t just tell them to go away. Everything that is said is after the fact.”

To the prosecutor’s question, Mr. Fostieris repeated that they were taking orders from their political superior as “we are a civil service”.

Prosecutor: Was Mr. Toskas giving official orders?

Accused: He has a military background. He has a man from the Air Force next to him. By law he is a superior and from the moment he expresses something, to me it is an order.

Prosecutor: You have it wrong in your mind. The political superior does not give orders.

Accused: If the Minister of Justice comes here and says something is it not an order?

Prosecutor: No.

Prosecutor: Couldn’t the ELAS helicopter at 17:30 help with the removal, with the means it has to alert the world?

Accused: Does it have media? Were microphones, speakers, etc. working? I am not familiar.

Prosecutor: It has Let’s say he had a chance. Couldn’t he give notice?

Accused: Hypothetically I will answer: If it has, it cannot go into the smoke. He has to go on top and start yelling for people to leave, without looking down! It’s wrong. It won’t, it’s not safe.

Prosecutor (irritated): So what happened was better?

Accused: Morally, you are right: no! Operationally, however, nothing else could be done.

The trial continues tomorrow.