Lack of media and personnel, problematic communication infrastructure and extreme behavior of the “explosive-type” fire that consumed Mati in a short time in 2018, are the causes of the tragedy, according to three senior fire officials at the time, who apologized at the trial for the murder fire.

All three defended their actions and argued that they did their best, pointing out that it was a deterrent and with a huge risk to accept any scenario of organized removal of citizens as a nightmare.

“If I have to ask for an organized evacuation and I appreciate that trying to get people out would be a nightmare, I won’t do it. I’m sorry but I won’t do it. We’ve heard here about the few minutes the sea was away and other strange things, for sure . In this particular fire, the sea was not a safe place. Nine people drowned. There was only one escape route: Marathon Avenue and it should have remained safe. From six in the afternoon it was not safe. Two cars entered and both burned.” .

This was the answer given by the then head of the Athens Fire Department, Nikolaos Panagiotopoulos, in his apology for the tragedy in Mati to the charge that citizens were not evacuated.

The accused emphasized that “no matter what happens, we will be accused” and was firm in his position that “an organized evacuation was not appropriate” in this specific fire, which, as he said, developed within 120 minutes moving east, against any earlier in the area that usually had westbound traffic.” He said, the safe escape route was not clear, nor was the safe assembly point for vehicles to come to pick up the people.”

Prosecutor: In retrospect do you stand by your decision not to remove?

Defendant: Yes, I insist

The defendant said that around 18:00 he tried to contact the then deputy chief Vassilis Matthaiopoulos, to tell him that they had information about two dead people. But when he did not find him, he informed another officer who has now passed away.

Earlier, the accused had said that he had gone to Lyreio, and in consultation with the abbess, he arranged for the nuns, children and others to be removed as the fire approached the institution.

I was not afraid when I was a captain before I entered the fire service, in the Persian in the Iran-Iraq war. But in Mati I was afraid because we wereU.S. and U.S“.

We were constantly asking for fire engines and they had sent them all to Daou,” Damianos Papadopoulos, the commander of the Nea Makri fire department at the time, said earlier, crying in his apology.

With great stress and many times crying, the defendant described to the court what happened, from the moment “we rang the bell at the station “for a fire at Dow Pentelis” on the disputed and tragic day “.

When, at the beginning of his apology, the president asked him to speak more slowly, the defendant replied: “Sorry. I am confused. It’s the first time I’m in court as an accused. What happened to Mati – she continued crying – is terrible. So many people lost because we didn’t have cars. People are valuable, they are not commodities… It’s awesome. Forgive me“.

Referring to his movements with a vehicle of the rural type without a water tank, Mr. Papadopoulos said that when he saw “smoke like a mushroom” at the height of Neos Voutzas, he started calling for reinforcements while he removed “with shouts and with the siren” people who had gathered and were looking at and taking pictures of the fire. Then, as he said, he moved down to Kokkino Limanaki, where around 19.30 he began to see cars with burn victims running to escape, to be saved. “We had to strategize the escape of the wounded and the ambulances couldn’t get through, because there were trapped cars. I was desperately waiting for the fire department. Anyone who studies from the office has not experienced what we experienced!“

He even tearfully described the rescue of an elderly resident, who testified in court. “I told him come let me take you home and he said he doesn’t want to, because his wife was burned there and that he wants an ambulance. I found a private one further up and the driver told me he couldn’t take an injured person because he had a bunch. “The protocol” he told me. I asked the old man if he could come in with the pile, and when he accepted I started yelling at the driver “hey what protocol are you telling me? This is a war going on!“.

The commander of the fire department, Nikolaos Chionis, in turn referred to the lack of means and personnel of the ground forces.

“There was a shortage of ground and air forces because they had been allocated early in the Kineta fire. Unfortunately, due to the economic crisis, the State did not have any other vehicles for our service. On our own responsibility and with the consent of the crews, we were making active, operational vehicles that should have been immobilized. The damage was constant. Only if you listen to our conversations would you understand what we are talking about. Not only did we not make use of the forces, as is the accusation, but on the contrary we are talking about a poverty of forces“.

Regarding the organized preventive removal, the accused said that “if it is carried out improperly, there is a danger for the people who will be out on the street and will be vulnerable, near the front… The fire was like a tsunami”.

“I express my deepest condolences to the relatives of the victims, but the situation was unmanageable, beyond us. We did everything we could. I’m sorry that we couldn’t do something more, said N. Chionis, closing his apology, repeating that the fire was beyond them and they couldn’t plan anything. “What to do with two cars in Vuzha” he questioned to show that they could not react differently and that time was relentless.