The Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikilias, spoke about fires, floods, the climate crisis and the immigration issue, among others, to SKAI and the show Mismatches.

“No fire has changed the image of the battle given by the uniformed, firefighters, police, volunteers, foresters, forest officials, local authorities, together with the general secretariat of civil protection,” noted Mr. Kikilias.

So far we have had 4,500 fire starts

He stated that so far we have had 4,500 fire starts, well above the 20-year average, the worst fire meteorological conditions in the last 40 years according to our scientists, while he pointed out that we had the lowest average burned area per fire in the worst May, June and July in terms of conditions that the country has ever faced since the time we are counting”.

Mr. Kikilias added: “Indeed we had a big fire in Attica. Of this 10% of the land burned was forest and it didn’t take 20 to 40 to enter the urban fabric and it already entered the urban fabric at 7 minutes. At 6 minutes he flew a loaded aerial and attempted. He couldn’t put it out. At 7.5 minutes our firefighters were there, a minute later it entered Varnavas, because this was the first urban area that the fire entered, and then we fought to prevent it from entering Nea Makri, from reaching Marathonas, Kalendzi, Dionysus that would burn completely, in Dionysovouni, Stamata and yes of course it arrived on the second day in the rekindling of these vast thousands of acres of grassland mainly on the borders of Vrilissi and Chalandrio and we have to evaluate this and we have to see what we can do better and we must support our fellow citizens”.

In the fire in Attica, no zone was enough to stop it

As he explained in the fire in Attica, no zone was enough to stop it.

Asked if we are ready and armored to face the phenomena we are now seeing in Central Europe, he said:
“First of all, let me tell you that since Mati and the 104 fellow human beings we lost, the whole worldview has changed and correctly, as is done worldwide in dealing with fires and crises, well, first of all we put human life in this great fire as well and throughout the country. This also happened in this year’s fire fighting season and until today, while last year we had 1,700,000 acres, we are talking about 300,000 acres burned. It is a great achievement, especially in terms of the protection of our fellow citizens and I am not underestimating either the forests, which may have been damaged, or the material damage of the houses that were compensated… In the disasters, in 2021 in Germany with 200 millimeters of water per twenty-four hours they drowned 180 people. Germany did not have 112. Because of Kyriakos Mitsotakis, Greece has for several years also had a culture of evacuation, which was found to work even in the most difficult, the most difficult”.

Mr. Kikilias underlined that whatever means are available will be used if and as long as necessary in these situations in order to protect fellow citizens. He explained that in fires the (evacuation) order is given by the mayors or the regional governor or when the phenomenon is extra-local by the Fire Department, while in floods “this is not the way and the first choice, because if you take people out of their homes onto the street , they will be at much greater risk.”

He noted that “in one night we turned our fire engines into rescue helicopters and we were able to save a lot of people in Daniel” mentioning that Daniel had 800 millimeters of water in 24 hours while Boris had between 200 and 300.

The minister underlined that now the firefighters face both. Fires in half the country and floods in the other half. “In Northern Greece and Western Greece, mainly floods and in the south and east mainly fires. And as we enter September, we may see other phenomena. I want to tell you the following, we will do everything humanly possible, organized, structured”.

He emphasized that the plan will be made preventively and to deal with it. And of course there is always help to support anyone who has a problem.

Deep in the dark if they think they will cut and sew Europe according to their own wants or facts

Asked if the country will be further pressured due to the climate crisis and the immigration issue, Mr. Kikilias stated that: “in the coming years we will face huge issues with water resources and primary production as a continent and as a region in general. In general, from where will we be able to irrigate our fields and drink water and for this reason there will be very large disputes between states and violent migration flows. Because there will be populations in areas of the earth that will not be able to access water resources and will not be able to access basic goods. And Europe must prepare for it. Unfortunately, Germany, assisted by Austria and the Netherlands, who were pointing fingers at us a few years ago, decided to effectively cancel Schengen. While they are imposing Dublin II, i.e. they are primarily not interested in what happens at the external borders, in everything that has to do with immigration. And I’m not talking about the refugee, I’m talking about the illegal immigrants who have run red in Europe and basically what, to torpedo what they themselves have as the responsibility of their politicians. I remind you, they needed workers and brought with open borders and open procedures not families of refugees from the war. that is another matter, these people in Europe, they were given allowances, they were allowed to do whatever they want and now they are reaping what they sowed and the societies are against the way these people have not been integrated. Let me put it this way for two or three generations now and they are being punished politically or electorally, those who point the finger at us for the centers we had and the way in which illegal immigrants lived, now want to close their borders and shake the air Europe. They are deep in the dark if they think that they will cut and sew Europe according to their own wants or facts. And Mrs. Merkel, who is no longer Chancellor, in 2017, received Kyriakos Mitsotakis and me in Berlin as the official opposition and Mr. Prime Minister presented her with a plan for guarding the external borders and cohesion and solidarity in Europe, such that it could to absorb a measurable number and give breaths in terms of immigration. She didn’t adopt it, she continued her policy and now her party is tougher than the Coalition, the German one.”