A working meeting under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis in view of this year’s fire season was held at the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection.
The new doctrine of Civil Protection focuses on prevention, preparedness, and effective response with immediate intervention.
In particular, the Prime Minister was informed about the preparation and the actions that have been taken as a whole with extensive preventive clean-ups and removal of accumulated biomass fuel from sensitive forest ecosystems and about the significant increase of ground and air surveillance of both dangerous and dangerous areas. the timely announcement of a possible fire.
It is noted that this year will increase significantly ground observation with the participation of the Armed Forces, especially in the most dangerous areas, while the patrols are transformed into purely military, releasing forces of the Fire Brigade and the Greek Police. At the same time, the air patrols will be increased by loaded single-engine Air Tractor and PZL type aircraft on days with a fire risk index of 4 or 5, with the aim of timely fire announcement and immediate first attack. It is emphasized that the air means have been significantly strengthened while a more specialized targeting has been made. At the same time, sponsorships and funding from rescEU have been utilized to increase the available fleet, while the final settlement of the country’s debt to the NSPA service was crucial for the timely leasing of the necessary aircraft.
The Fire Brigade is reinforced with 500 Forest Enterprise Firefighters, who will staff the Special Units of Forest Enterprises (EMODE). The total strength of EMODE reaches 590 executives including the 90 specially trained Firefighters. In addition, for the first time this year, our country will host in advance firefighters from six European countries, with the aim of their immediate operational readiness without wasting time for the transfer of forces and the exchange of know-how in the fight against forest fires. The project is funded by the European Commission and will host firefighters from Bulgaria, Romania, Germany, France, Finland, and Norway. The units will be pre-installed in Athens, Larissa and Tripoli.
The cooperation with the Local Government is also upgraded, with the aim of Municipalities and Regions to acquire a key role in the prevention of forest fires. For this purpose, visits are made by the political leadership of the Ministries of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection and Environment and Energy in high risk areas, with the participation of local fire and forestry services as well as Local Government officials. In addition, after institutional intervention, the Municipalities have the ability to immediately carry out cleaning of land in case of negligence of the owner or unknown owner.
In the same context, for the first time, civil protection exercises are designed and implemented with emphasis on organized evacuation in high risk areas with high tourist traffic but also in archaeological sites.
At the meeting under the Prime Minister The Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Christos Stylianidis, the Minister of Culture and Sports, Lina Mendoni, the Minister of State, Akis Skertsos, the Deputy Minister of Interior, Stelios Petsas, the Deputy Minister of Protection, Lefkonos Of Civil Protection, Evangelos Tournas, the Deputy Minister of Environment, George Amyras, the General Secretary of Coordination, Thanasis Kontogeorgis, the General Secretary of Civil Protection, Vassilis Papageorgiou, the General Secretary of Natural Environment, Konstantinos – Evangelos Grastaris A , the Chief of GEETHA, General Konstantinos Floros, the Chief of the Hellenic Police, Lieutenant General Konstantinos Skoumas, the Chief of the Fire Brigade, Lieutenant General Alexios Rapanos, the General Manager of Forests Evangelos Groustonos Syntikos Phoebus Theodorou as well as staff members of the Armed Forces, the Security Forces and the Fire Brigade.
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