Τhe state mechanism “is doing its best to respond to the wildfires as fast as is feasible and to contain damage to properties,” Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said late on Monday evening, while still in Brussels where he participates in the EU-CELAC summit.
He promised “compensations for properties damages” by the fires and outlined the priorities of the conservative government’s firefighting policies.
“Our first priority is protecting people’s lives, then their properties and the natural environment,” he underlined.
It should be recalled that locals have complained for the absence of firefighting means in areas where the flames have already destroying homes and businesses like in Nea Zoi, western Attica on Tuesday.
It seems that the immediately responding mechanism is the emergency sms via <112> urging people to evacuate in case of wildfires.
Mitsotakis decided to cut short his visit to Brussels and return to Greece earlier due to the wildfires raging in the country.
Tuesday afternoon the PM return to Athens immediately made his way to the Civil Defence Operations Coordination Center, media reported.
Civil Protection and Environment Crisis Minister Vassilis Kikilias told media on Tuesday morning that there were 81 fires across the country in the last 24 hours and that [ONLY!] 550 firefighters were deployed for their extinction.
Last year when the fire reached our garden here in Pendeli, I cannot fault either the firemen or the helicopter pilots,. But young men, all volounteers, who helped wherever they could were our saviours. We called them ‘aggeli’ and they were. Bless them