With a symbolic picture, a firefighter who fought the fire in Itea, northern Greece, wanted to make a point about the adverse working conditions for firefighters in Greece.
The picture firefighter Miltos Deligiorgis posted on his social media account, shows him sleeping on the burned soil of Itea, on scorched earth, with a fire hose as a mattress. after an overnight battle against the flames.
In his text accompanying the picture, Miltos wrote:
“After an overnight battle with the flames, I laid out my own deckchair. When you find a place on the sand, come and I’ll give you my own beach towel, because I probably won’t need it this year. 08/05/2023”.
Firefighters in Greece fight huge battles in adverse conditions and with a lack of essential support from the state. Every summer.
There were not a few times we see “images of shame”, such as the recent example of dozens of exhausted firefighters sleeping on the floor of a ferry or sitting in chairs in the lounge…
during their return from the island of Rhodes where they fought the huge wildfire for 12 consecutive days.
This is so shaming. I am sure many ‘people’ care. But does the government? I do not class them as people. If it wasn’t for the dedication of these firefighters I wouldn’t still have my house, it would have gone up in flames.