“Today is the most difficult day faced by the Fire Department in this year’s fire fighting season” said the press representative of the PS, Pyrarchos, Vassilis Vathrakogiannis, in an emergency briefing held a while ago.

As he pointed out “Firefighters and all Civil Protection forces are fighting hard battles with the flames across the country. In Attica alone, two large and extremely dangerous fires have broken out.”

Regarding the fire in Plaka Kerateas, he noted that the Operations Center of the Fire Department was informed about it at 11:54 this morning. At the start of it, strong northerly winds were blowing near scattered houses, the speed of which exceeded 60 kilometers per hour, said Mr. Vathrakogiannis adding that the fire moved very quickly, towards the areas of Paleokamariza, Markati, Plaka, Panorama, Agios Georgios Thorikou and Agios Konstantinos.

“Due to this dangerous situation, following a recommendation from the Chief of the Fire Brigade, three messages were issued by 112, for the evacuation of the residents of these areas, in a safe direction” emphasized the press representative of the Fire Brigade, while announcing that at the moment, strong ground forces and air forces, 23 aerial vehicles, 13 helicopters and 10 aircraft are operating.

He then referred to the fire in Stamata, stressing that “while our forces were making superhuman efforts to contain this fire, a second one broke out, this time on the northern side of the basin. Specifically, on the 4th and the 17th, a fire broke out in a forest area in Stamata, Attica, next to residential areas, which spread rapidly due to the strong northerly winds, whose speed reached 70 kilometers per hour».

As he said, five messages were issued by 112, both for information and for the removal of residents from the areas of Amygdaleza Stamatas, Rodopoli and Galini in a safe direction.

Strong ground forces are operating in Stamata, while 14 aerial vehicles, 6 helicopters and 8 aircraft have been deployed for aerial firefighting.

Mr. Vathrakogiannis noted that assistance in extinguishing the fires in Keratea and Stamata, Attica, is provided by a large number of volunteers and volunteer vehicles, as well as water tankers and work machines that have been made available by the Attica Region and the General Staff of the National Defense.

In addition, as he said, in the areas of the fires, Greek Police Forces have been deployed to facilitate the evacuation of residents, but also for traffic regulations. Also, the forces of the Forestry Service have been deployed as well as levels of the DEDDIE for the possible restoration of damage to the electricity supply.

“From tomorrow, July 1st, we enter the heart of the fire season. Conditions will become even more difficult. The attention of all of us is necessary.

Any carelessness can lead to disaster” concluded.