“In California, where the houses and villas have been built in semi-forested areas, it had 6-7 months of no rain, just like we had in Greece in 2024. It didn’t rain, it didn’t snow. The conditions are extreme, we are talking about a firestorm, the winds are 150-160 kilometers per hour,” said the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikilias, in an interview he granted to Mr. Mega and journalists Iordanis Hasapopoulos and Anthi Voulgaris.

“I don’t want to comment on preparation or non-preparation, but I want to say that it is in the most advanced and richest country in the world, and the richest state. It has fire-fighting equipment, huge aircraft, retarding liquids, it has water tanks, it makes fire zones, it has invested a lot of money in fire protection” underlined the Minister, pointing out that despite this, thousands of houses in the urban fabric have burned to the ground, over 100,000 residents have evacuated and half a million homes and businesses are without power while the fire is still raging uncontrollable.

He also emphasized that the mega fires that cannot be dealt with conventionally cause intense reflection on the evolution of the climate crisis and the ways of managing natural disasters. “Since last year, we have been making a huge effort in the area of ​​prevention. This year, we aspire to exceed 1 million plot clearings, the opening of fire protection zones continues by DEDDIE-ADMIE, the Ministry of the Interior with the General Director of Forests, Mr. Gudufa, but also from the Army. The second field is the interoperability of all the agencies involved: Fire Department, Forestry Service, ELAS, volunteers, Municipalities, Regions, Armed Forces, Civil Protection, all together on duty. This paid off significantly last summer and will intensify. Finally, but not least, the European Union and the member states must immediately ensure resources for investments in prevention projects, fire zones, infrastructure projects, flood protection. It’s not just the green transition, RES, offshore parks and the issue of burning fossil fuels. In this transition to the new era, Europe must support the member states in everything that has to do with the very important challenges they face due to the climate crisis,” he said.

Waiting for the wave of bad weather in the next few days

Finally, regarding the wave of bad weather that is expected in our country in the coming days, the Minister stated that the Scientific Committee for Risk Assessment met this morning. “I will wait for the meteorologists to tell me, I remind you that the National Weather Service, the National Observatory and leading meteorologists of the country participate in the Risk Assessment Committee. First of all, we are told of rain in western Greece, probably from Saturday to Sunday. And until Monday rains and snow in northern Greece” said Mr. Kikilias, noting that “we need the rains and snows”, however, many times, due to the rapidity of the phenomena at the local level, citizens must be especially careful, obey the instructions of the authorities and have anti-skid chains and snow tires, which they should know how to “wear” them on time in their vehicles.