A VIEW FROM ATHENS: ‘WORSE IS YET TO COME’

Craig Hope, 46, station manager at South Wales Fire and Rescue Service

At the moment we are based in north-west Athens, deployed as part of an international response to assist the Greek government.

Our role is to follow in the wake of the fire, slowly and methodically walking through charred pine forests to dig out hotspots and establish the potential for any recurrence. It is very hot, very smoky and the landscape has been devastated.

Even though we are not in the thick of it, where the 30-metre flames are, we are helping to relieve the Greek firefighters to allow them to focus on protecting their communities. We think it is a 10-day deployment but we are not sure how long it will be or where we will be sent next.

I have been a firefighter for 28 years, and spent the past 14 focusing on wildfire, as a tactical advisor for the UK and a member of the European Advanced Fire Analysis network.

The wildfires we are seeing in Greece are increasingly extreme, and worse is yet to come. What we need to learn across Europe when these fires happen, is what can we do to mitigate against the next one?

Previously in Britain we didn’t lose property or people to wildfire but my fear is that might change.

Twenty years ago, at the start of the wildfire season in April, as firefighters working in South Wales, we would make sure our equipment was ready. Now we work year round on wildfires, and better managing the landscape to cope by digging firebreaks, encouraging grazing and encouraging vegetation which can reduce wildfire spread.

Problems have been building up over the years because of the way we manage the land, such as establishing monocultures which cause fire to spread quicker, and in the past couple of years we have been getting the sort of prolonged heatwaves happening in Greece now.

We are never going to stop fire. What we need to work on is how we adapt.