The Prime Minister assured the citizens who have been affected that the State will be on their side with great speed and with great efficiency.
By Penelope Galliou
Faithful to its principles and priorities, the government from the first moment the big fire in Penteli set – as in any critical natural disaster – the protection of human life as the highest priority. A priority that was reflected in the entire planning and mobilization of the entire state apparatus for the protection of citizens and extinguishing the fire. After all, the Prime Minister himself visited the Operations Center of the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection for the second time in the same day, wanting to have his own opinion and a complete picture of the developments and the coordination of both the large fire in Penteli, as well as the two others that followed in the afternoon in Megara and Salamina.
The Prime Minister, after praising the efforts of all those who contributed to fighting the fires, doing, as he said, “the best possible with a very quick and timely presence, with a great mobilization of the state apparatus”, appeared satisfied with the coordination in relation to what we had seen in the past pledging that “with this logic we will proceed from now on”.
However, referring to the causes of the fire in Penteli, he left open the possibility that the fire was due to arson. “We cannot rule out anything, we will have more when the fire department completes its investigative work,” he said when asked about it, while adding that “for Penteli, the case of arson is not ruled out either.” A statement that came shortly after the suspicions left by the Minister of Civil Protection and Climate Change Christos Stylianides, saying that the causes of the fire are being investigated. “The possibility of lightning and short circuit has been ruled out. All other possibilities are open,” he noted.
In any case, the Prime Minister assured the citizens who have been affected that the State will be on their side with great speed and with great efficiency. “It seems that the damage is limited and of course the state engineer will move with great speed to restore our fellow citizens, those who lost their homes or those who suffered damage” he said while focusing on the evacuation of the affected areas – recalling that ” evacuation messages were sent to areas inhabited by almost 100,000 of our fellow citizens. These evacuations were carried out in absolute safety, with the support of the Greek police, so that we prioritize and protect the supreme good that is human life,” he stressed.
The attitude of the opposition
Since yesterday morning, executives have been on the side of the fire victims of SYRIZA. An echelon of the party led by Secretary Rania Svigou participated in a meeting at Pallini Town Hall and delivered first aid items for the needs of the affected, firefighters and volunteers. In a statement, the representative of the party, Nasos Iliopoulos, hastened to criticize the statements of the prime minister, speaking of a crescendo of arrogance and of the government, stating that “The government succeeded, Penteli burned down. While houses are still burning in Attica, with an unknown so far number of of homes that have been destroyed, he did not hesitate to say that the damage is limited. He is satisfied with the thousands of gaps in the fire department and the images of policemen with buckets trying to put out the flames,” he said while questioning the pledge to support the fire victims.
PASOK ranks were also found in the affected areas of Penteli, with the party’s secretary Andreas Spyropoulos underlining the titanic effort made to extinguish the fire. “We stand by the citizens, the firefighters, the police, the army and the people of the local government and of course the volunteers, who are fighting a titanic battle to limit the front of the fire” he noted.
Members and friends of the KKE rushed to help in the effort to extinguish the Penteli fronts, which in its statement stated that “Once again we are living the denial of the government’s assurances about “the complete readiness and adequacy of the state apparatus”. Responsibility can no longer be hidden behind excuses for “extreme weather”.
The party of Yiannis Varoufakis, MeRA25, assigned responsibilities to the governments over time, arguing that “Climate change is a given, but also the criminal policy of the current and throughout the years of the memorial Governments, which degraded among all others to a great extent the political protection, leads to this explosive combination that we unfortunately see again this year. At the same time, we demand that they be declared renewable and that the construction and installation of wind turbines be prohibited in all burnt areas”, concluded the announcement of MeRA25.
The cause of the fire is currently being investigated as the answers are not expected to be given during the battle with the flames, however the government and opposition will focus on both the causes and the effectiveness of dealing with the fire after the fire is completely extinguished.
View the news feed and get the latest news.
