The Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikilias, expressed his thanks to the firefighters for the enormous effort they have made so far in the field of fires, who this morning visited the facilities of the 1st EMAK, in Aspropyrgos, but at the same time he asked them to remain on standby until the end of the fire season, as, he said, nothing is over yet.

“The fifteenth of August has passed, but the danger of fires is here. We still have a way to go. We must not relax until October 31 and we must face the threat with the same professionalism, responsibility and self-sacrifice”, Mr. Kikilias stressed to the firefighters, with whom he discussed all the issues that concern them.

The minister arrived at 10 in the morning at the facilities of the 1st Emergency Response Unit in Goritsa Aspropyrgou, where he met with the commanders and members of the Fire Services of Western Attica, as well as with the commanders and executives of the Special Disaster Response Unit (ESU), the Special Forestry Unit of Operations (EMODE) and the Motorized Special Fire Department (METPE).

Mr. Kikilias praised the work of the men and women of the Fire Brigade, thanked them for the enormous efforts they make in the field of fires and asked them to continue in the next period with the same professionalism, self-sacrifice and sense of duty, while also at the end of the meeting he listened attentively to the firefighters, who raised issues and problems that concern them as a branch.

He also mentioned the contribution of municipalities, regions and volunteers in dealing with fires, pointing out that in the upcoming municipal elections, citizens should evaluate the work of mayors and regional governors in the field of prevention.

The entire speech of the minister to the firefighters

“Today we are in Western Attica, in the Directorates of EMAK, EMODE, METPE, in the Administration of Western Attica and the Fire Stations of the region. I thank you all for the great effort throughout this period of fire protection. The Fire Brigade but also the local government, the volunteers and our fellow citizens.

The fifteenth of August has passed, but the danger of causing fires has not ended. The danger is still here and we must with the same professionalism, the same seriousness and making the same effort to complete the fire protection period in the best possible way by October 31st. We support our firefighters, the men and women of the Fire Service, volunteers and all those people who are on the front lines.

I want to thank them again, to say that we still have a long way to go to complete this period and to ask for professionalism, attention and seriousness. I would also like to say about the other parts of the mechanism. Local self-government of the first and second degree is an important part of prevention and fire protection and, in view of the self-government elections, I believe that citizens should evaluate by Municipality and by Region the work that the local authorities have or have not done in everything it’s about prevention.”