Started today at Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection the third round of training programs in the context of preparation for the coming fire season, with the participation of executives from the Fire Brigade and the Forestry Service, while at the end of March joint exercises will begin in the field with the additional involvement of the security forces, OTA, DEDDIE and ADMIE.

In the pivotal cooperation of the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection with the Ministry of Environment and Energy and all the involved bodies, for the preparation of the upcoming fire seasonthe Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikilias, mentioned among others.

Mr. Kikilias he emphasized the synergies that are being made, for the first time, with all the agencies involved for the opening of fire zones.

In particular, as Mr. Kikilias stated, “now the law also allows the ADMIE to zone next to high voltage networks in forested areas which we consider to be very dangerous for mega fires, and o DEDDEEfire protection zones around the camps us for prevention”.

In addition, Mr. Kikilias pointed out that in the new doctrine of the Fire Brigade “it will not be understood to deal with a forest fire without the foresters, the people of the forest present”.

“Our cooperation with the Ministry of Environment and Energy, the General Directorate of Forestry and the foresters of the whole country is crucial. You see here in our seminars, how they help the Fire Department officers at staff level. The corresponding officials will also be in the field exercises that we will do together in March and April, before the start of the fire fighting season, with real, difficult scenarios”, he said.

“We are joining forces and will do everything humanly possible to defend our countrymen and our country and natural beauty. However, I want to warn that we will have a difficult season again, as the climatic conditions are very difficult and critical”, noted Mr. Kikilias.

The minister then referred to the new criminal code that was passed and the penalties at the felony level for those who, as he said, “are habitual arsonists even negligently and lead to loss of life or ecological destruction.” “We are now talking about the conversion from a misdemeanor to a felony, for sentences of 10 years in prison and up to 200,000 euros in fines. No one will play with the lives of our fellow citizens”, underlined Mr. Kikilias.

For his part, the general manager of the Directorate of Forestry of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Evangelos Goudoufas, pointed out that “they have shielded all prevention projects with a legislative framework”.

“This is the first year that they are done very quickly and all our invitations in collaboration with TAIPED have gone live. We have shielded the possibility of all agencies to take preventive measures, such as ADMIE, DEDDIE, all facilities, camps, penitentiaries to take precautionary measures, so that we do not experience tragic cases like in previous years”, noted Mr. . Goudoufas, while expressing his pleasure that “they responded to the call of the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection and personally of the minister himself, but also of the entire PA headquarters” to participate in the 4 cycles of the three-day trainings in order, as he said, ” what we all say in theory, let’s put it into practice.”

“Forest fire is by definition a very difficult mission and in this mission no one is spared. So, if we don’t learn to cooperate in the field, to be able to provide all the information, all the parameters of the physical environment to the head of repression, there is no way we can have an outcome consistent with success. And that is why we are here”, concluded Mr. Goudoufas.