The round of speeches by the mayors of the municipalities that were affected by the fire in Eastern Attica in July 2018, opened today in the trial for Mati, after the conclusion of the apology of Rena Dourou.

The first of the elected officials, the then mayor of Marathon Ilias Psinakis and the deputy mayor of the municipality, responsible for matters of civil protection and cleanliness, Vaios Thanasias, stood in front of the judges of the Three-member Criminal Court.

Starting his apology, Mr. Psinakis stated that “I would like to express my sorrow for the tragic way people died. For us residents, since that tragic day our lives have changed forever».

The then mayor said he wanted to explain that he got involved with the municipality because he believed in the investment potential of the area as a very strong brand namebecause of the marathon heritage, through which, as he said, you can communicate to the whole world.

The accused said that although he usually did not take leave in August, nevertheless on the day in question he was on leave and thus he was informed by the general secretary of the municipality about the fire at Dau Pentelis, information which, as he said, found him in the middle of nowhere. So, and since he could not fly a helicopter from Athens, he arranged to return to his municipality, in an inflatable.

“I found myself in Serifos because it now has 10-11 Beaufort. At dawn I arrived in Sounio and then in the municipality. I faced a tragic situation. I went to the operations center that had been set up. Since the previous day, because a risk level of 4 has been given, no one has left the municipality, there are no opening hours because the risk of fire is high».

The defendant stated that the fire spread fast moving, as he learned, with 120 kilometers per hour and with a westerly wind, something rare for the region.

So, “leaving from peak to peak”, crossed the Marathon, which usually acted as a fire zone.

In the imputation of Justice that the required cleaning actions had not been taken in the fire season, Mr. Psinakis emphasized that there was special care of the municipality, with a fleet of vehicles and tools, which, as he said, he created, for cutting and collecting wood and grass. However, he clarified that the Eye “it has been a forest for 80 years. You cannot cut even a branch without the permission of the forest office. We were always afraid of Mati and the forest of Schinias. The residents of Matiou asked the municipality to cut pine trees that were resting on their roofs. The forest office forbids us to touch even a branch and we sent the requests to the forest officeThe”.

In many questions from the president and the prosecutor, the then mayor referred to his co-accused, deputy mayor Mr. Thanasias, while at some point in his apology he said:Sorry to speak plainly, but that’s how I can speak better. I’m not like Mrs. Douro with the laws and that».

Mr. Psinakis emphasized that for the issue of organized evacuation, the Fire Department is responsible, specifically mentioning:The mayor and, in this particular case, the region, cannot take the citizens from somewhere and take them somewhere else. We didn’t even have a verbal recommendation from anyone! We responded quickly to everything that was asked of us. We were asked for two buses to evacuate a nursing home and immediately responded. A recommendation was made to Kineta and it was released».

He also said that at the former American base “we had 2,500 people in swimwear that night. There was pre-work. The municipality was ready. We even had a psychologists”.

Chairman: Have you done civil defense exercises?

Accused: Exercise was done practically. We had 120 fires that summer and 40 after Mati.

Chairman: Did you contact the forest office without citizen complaints?

Mr. Psinakis: Of course! We fought to declassify Mati from a forest area! At first the streets were narrow streets. That’s why people got burned! We have always feared this!

Audience: What it says; Shame! Shame!

The deputy mayor of Marathon, Mr. Thanasias, stated that the municipality was fully prepared that day, but, as he mentioned, they had no information from the Fire Department for a long time. “No information about the impending disaster, nor to ask for our assistance».

The defendant, describing the situation he saw when he himself went up to Neo Voutza around 7 pm, referred to “biblical catastrophe” and “horror movie scene».

He also said that a center was immediately set up for the affected, where citizens were welcomed by providing medical care, water and food, and that from the next day the municipality worked to restore the damage, but also through donations it received for the relief of the affected.

Mr. Thanasias’ testimony will continue on Monday, January 29 and will be followed by the apologies of the then mayor and the deputy mayor of the Municipality of Rafina-Pikermio and the then mayor of Pentelis. The last defendant to plead guilty is the elderly man who allegedly caused the disaster with a fire he had set to burn grass.