Huge death toll in Greek inferno raises concerns over the state’s ability to handle major crises
The devastating wild fire which started on the eastern slopes of mount Pendeli in the area of Daou early Monday evening and spread towards the sea in less than 90 minutes, left little time for proper evacuation. Greek fire officers described the blaze as a ‘’mega-fire’’, due to the fact that it erupted in a forest of particularly flammable pine trees as strong winds blew in the area. The combination of these two factors meant that the blaze spread out of control very fast, reaching the coast within just a couple of hours. Furthermore, firefighters and water-dropping aircraft were busy trying to control a separate fire in Kineta, western Attica, meaning that there was some delay in the response to the east Attica blaze.
Nevertheless, experienced firefighters say that the absence of an emergency plan lies behind the especially high death toll as people who were trapped by the flames fled their homes and sought a safe way out of the area. They blame the Fire Service, the Attica Regional Authority and the General Secretariat for Civil Protection in particular, which is responsible for coordinating all the relevant agencies. They also point to the state’s apparent lack of preparedness despite warnings issued over the previous weekend that the fire risk on Monday would be at Level 4, the highest, throughout the region of Attica.
Hundreds of people were literally trapped in the narrow alleys and cul de sac passages leading to a cliff mounted seafront. As the fire quickly spread through the densely populated suburbs of Mati, Rafina and Nea Makri traffic jams were formed. Many people unable to drive out were incinerated in their cars while others were cornered in burning gardens where trees and vegatation caught fire. The blaze, fanned by strong winds, raged out of control as more than 800 people who ran to the shore were eventually evacuated in small boats following an ordeal of several hours in the water.
Almost 50 wild fires have broken out across Greece in the past ten days, with several still burning last weekend – including blazes in Corinth, Crete, and in central and northern Greece – after a heatwave sent temperatures above 40C. The number of fatalities makes this the highest death toll from forest fires in recent times and it looks set to rise further. More than 170 people have been injured with several of them hospitilised in serious condition. In 2007 more than 60 people were killed when a blaze devastated the southern Peloponnese peninsula with the region of Ilia badly affected.
The biggest loss of life was in the coastal resort of Mati, where scores of homes were destroyed. The blaze threatened summer camps for children and pensioner’s apartments along a pine-clad stretch of coastline. Evangelos Bournous, the mayor of the neighbouring port town of Rafina, which was also affected by the blaze, blamed the strong winds that left many people trapped. “We were unlucky”, he said talking to a TV reporter. “The wind changed and it came at us with such force that it razed the coastal area in minutes.”
Athanasios Diamantopoulos, a professor of political science who was staying in Mati, wrote in an article in Vima newspaper: “I abandoned my car and headed to the beach. I jumped into the sea along with other people… I was picked