A big wildfire in a forest in Trilofo by Thessaloniki, northern Greece, on Thursday damaged several houses and had residents ready to evacuate, while the blaze came dangerously close to a big hotel in the area.
Authorities investigate the possibility of arson, as suspicious inflatable items were found nearby. It is the third wildfire in the broader area of the Thermi Municipality in the last couple of days.
Six or seven houses have been damaged by the fire, and so did house courtyards and plots of land, yet without endangering human life.
“The fire, the 3rd in a row in the last few days in the same area, occurred in a mixed zone with high risk, between dense vegetation and residences and quickly took on dimensions,” the spokesperson of the Fire Service Fire Chief Vasilios Vathrakogiannis said in the afternoon..
In addition, a message was issued by 112 in order to inform the residents of the area about the fire.
Thursday afternoon the blaze seems to have been taken under control with the dozens of firefighters to be reportedly dealing only with scattered outbreaks.
Near the same area, the fire brigade at the same time, were dealing with another fire in Oreokastro, which they immediately brought under control.
Prosecutor orders urgent investigation
Dimitris Smyrnis, the head of the Thessaloniki First Instance Prosecutor’s Office, issued an order for an investigation regarding the announcement by the municipality of Thermi about the discovery of incendiary devices near a forest area.
Based on a relevant press release, the supervisor requested the Criminal Prosecution Prosecutor, Anastasios Kesisi to order an urgent preliminary examination.
The purpose is to ascertain whether the following offenses are established: Arson in a forest, possession of incendiary materials and objects to cause and spread a forest fire within a forest area, as a felony. As well as the misdemeanor of manufacturing, possession of incendiary materials and mechanisms with danger to man.
As part of the investigation, statements will be taken from eyewitnesses, from the persons who identified the mechanisms, from Fire Service employees, while an autopsy report and an expert opinion on the mechanisms found will be presented. The ultimate goal is to find the unknown perpetrators.
The municipality of Thermi also referred to a recent fire that broke out in the wider area and to the incendiary devices that were found in two different places within two days.
“Forest lands in the mountains of Thermi municipality were targeted by arsonists in the last 24 hours. After the fire near a forest area in Peristera a few 24 hours ago, yesterday Monday, July 15, unknown persons attempted to burn a forest area located two hundred meters outside Livadi on the road to Petrokerasa, where the remains of an incendiary device were also found. The fire broke out shortly after 8 pm and the Fire Department and Civil Protection of the municipality were immediately notified by the operational center and the drone of the municipality of Thermi.
16, in the area of Kardia, an employee of the cleaning of the municipality of Thermi found suspicious packages in trees which could be used to cause a fire. The investigative department of the Fire Department and the Civil Protection of the municipality were immediately notified, who rushed to the scene and received the material to be processed.”
sources: grtimes.gr, dnews.gr
The penalty for arson should be life in prison.