“Unfortunately, the situation on the fire fronts of our country is not developing positively even today and the first thing we want to express is our support to everyone who is fighting on the frontlines, the need to achieve firefighting and extinguishment as soon as possible, without casualties, without damage, without injuries , without any damage to the property of citizens and businesses and to the natural environment of our country”, underlines the president of the KO of SYRIZA-PS, Sokratis Famellos, in his statement about the devastating fires during the party’s echelon tour in Evros and the Rhodope.

“Already to date we have a burned land footprint that exceeds more than 3 times the average burned land of the last 15 years. The 6-day fire in Evros continues today without delimitation in a perimeter of 200 kilometers, it has created disasters in many settlements, threatened and led to the evacuation of the hospital, has already left a negative mark with the loss of many human lives and has already destroyed the unique and precious ecosystem of Dadia-Lefkimi-Soufli. Battles were fought with self-sacrifice, but the continuation and footprint of the fire prove that we were not sufficient as a Greek State and preparedness and an intense climate of insecurity has been created in society and especially in the Evros region“, he mentions and emphasizes:

“Our first concern is to be informed and contribute to the faster response to the fire and the organization of civil protection. From there on, I have to state that there is a very serious concern, because the mismatch between the criticality of the situation and the available means and the preparation of the State is very great.”

“Indeed, we have very difficult weather conditions, the climate data is also unprecedented, but this does not correspond to the lack of personnel in the fire department, the lack of organizational chart in the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, to the fact that the civil protection law of 2020 is inactive. In other words, we cannot face one of the most difficult heat waves with 3,600 vacancies in the fire department. In the same direction, we must have staffed forest services with executives and staff and with an extensive scientifically designed program of forest fire prevention projects”, he comments, characterizing as “unacceptable” that “as a country we have only 0.5% absorption of Recovery Fund resources in the field of political protection”.

“There is no excuse, there is no apology after the fact for a government already 4 years old. Mr. Mitsotakis promised that Evros will be a pillar of the country’s security, but the citizens do not feel safe with 6 days of fires and with their hospital under evacuation. We need a serious, reliable, strong and intelligent State”, he notes and concludes: “In any case, we will be informed, we will visit the fire department, we are already in the coordination center, we will meet the local government at primary and secondary levels, we will visit the hospital, the affected areas, the forest of Dadia, the municipal authorities and the protected area unit. Then we will head to Rodopi, to two municipalities where we have serious problems from fires. In all these areas, after rapid firefighting, there is a need to restore and protect both the environment and the local economy.”

In the echelon of SYRIZA-PS that visits the affected areas of Evros and Rhodopes led by the president of K.O. Socrates Famello, MEP Kostas Arvanitis, MPs Theofilos Xanthopoulos, Ferhat Ozgiur, Zeibek Hussein, Kyriaki Malama, former MPs Natasha Gara and Menelaos Maltezos, as well as N.E. of the party.