Members of the Fire Service and the Greek Police arrested an arsonist for having started five fires in the area of Rizari in Marathonas, East Attica, during the time from 26. July to 31. July 2018.
The man reportedly confessed he “liked to set fires and to watch fire fighters extinguishing them.”
In a statement issued on Wednesday, the Fire Service said that the 35-year-old Greek man had started a total of five fires in land plots.
The first two fires were set on July 26th, when the ground and the houses in Neos Voutzas and Mati were still hot from the big wildfire in Athens, only a few kilometers away in the south.
The arsonist would start the fires with a lighter in land plots with dry low vegetation.
He was arrested short time after he started one more fire in the dawn of Wednesday.
Somebody saw him and informed the police. He tried to escape, the police chased him and ultimately arrested him.
The man is to be charged for acts of intentional arson and disobedience to the law enforcement authorities.
The man was arrested on Wednesday, August 1st
In the afternoon the prosecutor pressed felony charges against the man for arson that set human lives at risk.
In a latest development, the prosecutor investigating the Athens wildfires has reportedly asked for a copy of the case file to investigate whether the man is in any connection with the deadly fires of 23. July.
During a press conference on the Athens wildfires last Thursday, Deputy Minister for Citizen Protection, Nikos Toskas, had spoken of two separate fires near the affected areas.
East Attica graph is on the picture below
Daily Kathimerini had reported over the weekend, that the deadly fire that started on Penteli Mt was caused by a local man by negligence when he tried to burn branches. Citing police sources, the newspaper had written that the man was 65 years old. So far nobody at this age has been arrested.
PS It is more than unbelievable that someone keeps setting land plots on fire especially when Greece mourns more than 90 people who died in the Athens wildfires of July 23rd and thus in the same region.
How much would it cost to have solar powered drones over Greece scanning for thermal anomalies.
I AM CRYING MY HEART OUT FOR THE PEOPLE IN GREECE. FOR ALL THE HUMANS AND THE HELPLESS ANIMALS THAT LOST THEIR HOMES..DOMESTIC AND WILD. MAY THE PERSON OR PERSONS WHO STARTED THIS LOSE THEIR LIFE IN A HORRIBLE HORRIBLE WAY.
Frankly I don’t believe in this apocryphal branch-burning man on Mt Penteli whom nobody has arrested or found. Too convenient.