Fire rages all night at Parnitha - IMMESURABLE catastrophe at the Mt. & National Park

[Ellinas]

ATHENS, June 28, 2007 (AFP) - Greek firefighters were waging an all-night battle on Thursday to put out a massive forest blaze that had reached a mountain overlooking the capital, forcing evacuations from its slopes.

A front miles (kilometres) long cast a huge black cloud on the horizon, while a military radar station, a casino and summer camps on Mount Parnitha, some 30 kilometres (20 miles) north of the Greek capital, were evacuated.

Around 130 firemen with 34 fire engines were deployed to the area for what Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras called "the battle for Parnitha", one of Greece's few national parks.

"We will fight during the entire night," Polydoras said at the scene, adding, "temperatures are down and there is humidity, so we have reason for hope."

"Mount Parnitha has 30-metre trees, dense foliage and rough terrain," a spokesman from the fire department told AFP.

Greece's entire firefighting force of 15,000 personnel was on emergency alert, but overnight they were without the assistance of water-dropping planes and helicopters that could not operate in the dark.

After a nine-day heatwave described by authorities as the longest ever recorded in Greece, over 100 fires have broken out around the country since Wednesday.

Nine people died from heatstroke in the heatwave during the week, and the charred bodies of two men have been found in the central region of Agia Larissas where they became trapped by a blaze on Wednesday afternoon.

The Parnitha fire crept up to the mountain from its western side at Dervenochoria, where unexploded mines dating from World War II complicated efforts to put out a blaze raging since Wednesday, the fire department said.

Four homes in the area burned to the ground overnight to Thursday, while a camping ground and a nunnery had to be evacuated as a precaution.

In total, fires were reported from 120 sites across the country since Wednesday morning, although most were extinguished, the fire service said.

Strong winds prompted authorities in several regions, including in Attiki in the south, Chalkidiki in the north and the Aegean islands, to declare a state of emergency amid fears of spreading fires.

The fire department suspects that power lines overheated from the heatwave may have helped spark some of the fires, though Polydoras said an incendiary device was found in one blaze site in Mati, a rural area east of Athens.

Greece has appealed for help to the European Union. France and Italy each sent two firefighting planes, while Portugal said it would send a plane on Monday to help battle the fires.

AFP

[Ellinas]

The only dense forest that had remained in Attica was destroyed yesterday. No need to talk about the consequences of this in the already messed up climate of Attica.

The fire is still burning some parts of Parnitha this moment I write this post, and the fire deparment is trying to save anything possible to be saved.

A dark and dense cloud is spread in the area, it is even reaching central Athens and the air smells everywhere. This makes the atmosphere even more heavy, joint with the pollution dust and the heat.


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[Ellinas]

And I now ask: What do the ones who started this fire deserve?

The question is for all the ones who are defending the "rights" of the criminals, and they are a lot in the Greek media.

[Hellenika]

Originally Posted by Ellinas
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And I now ask: What do the ones who started this fire deserve?

The question is for all the ones who are defending the "rights" of the criminals, and they are a lot in the Greek media.

These fires are not from the heat wave?

[Ellinas]

Originally Posted by Hellenika
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These fires are not from the heat wave?

The heat itself can start fires. In special cases it can start one or two, but not 150. The fires are started by constructors, lodging operators etc who take advantage of the heat. They do it to areas with natural beauty in order to "clean" them from trees and create space for the construction of villas and hotel complexes. Because of the laws, they can't find another way to override the forest, so they make it look like a natural disaster. As it is obvious, they have the tolerance of the government, that's why they have no law which is taking precautions against this method, while they could easily have. Many times they use stuff, like explosives or gasoline to spread the fire.

Yesterday, there was heat and strong wind in many parts of Greece, that's why they chosed the day to act by starting more than 150 fires in different parts.

This is happening every summer in Greece as we have hundreds of fires every time, but these two days the situation got out of control in some of the fires.

Regarding the Parnitha fire, their purpose was not to burn the whole mountain and the National Park, because the law clears up that you can't build inside a National Park.
The fire started at the area of Dervenohoria which is many kilometers Northwest of Parnitha, but the strong wind and the very belated reaction of the Fire deparment (the first hours they did not even send a plane) moved the fire Southeast to Parnitha and it spread in both sides of the mountain - the night fell and the use of anti-fire planes was not possible anymore. So the fire was spreading and destroying during the whole night.

Our pathetic government has a HUGE responsibility for what happened, but in such cases it is pointless as it already happened and it can't be undone. The only dense forest of Attica was destroyed yesterday and it will need more than 100-150 years to be replaced. Even our grand children will be living the consequences of this. Probably one of the biggest catastrophes ever happened in Attica in the last 2,000 years. What we can do is "discharging" these imposters to avoid something similar in the furure.

[Hellenika]

Thanks for the info Ellinas. That is unbelievable. How can they do such a thing? I remember I was reading something a while back about developers wanting to build on land and they weren't allowed to. I wonder if this is related. What idiots think they can control a fire? Those fires could easily start spreading into metro areas killing people. All for their villas and hotels.

[Ellinas]

Originally Posted by Hellenika
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Thanks for the info Ellinas. That is unbelievable. How can they do such a thing? I remember I was reading something a while back about developers wanting to build on land and they weren't allowed to. I wonder if this is related. What idiots think they can control a fire? Those fires could easily start spreading into metro areas killing people. All for their villas and hotels.

Well big metro areas are not in a big danger because asphalt and cement are not flammable (like the trees) and there is a strong presense of the Fire Department there.
However many times in the past these fires reached small villages or towns and burned parts of them. So besides the natural disaster, from time to time they are many people who are losing all their belongings and property because of these fires. And the most important of all, in some cases they are human loses too, like the two people who were killed yesterday in Thessaly as the fire trapped them in the forest.

I don't think we can find any words to describe these firebugs and the officials/politicians who tolerate them or even support them.

[Megale]

Originally Posted by Ellinas
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Well big metro areas are not in a big danger because asphalt and cement are not flammable (like the trees) and there is a strong presense of the Fire Department there.
However many times in the past these fires reached small villages or towns and burned parts of them. So besides the natural disaster, from time to time they are many people who are losing all their belongings and property because of these fires. And the most important of all, in some cases they are human loses too, like the two people who were killed yesterday in Thessaly as the fire trapped them in the forest.

I don't think we can find any words to describe these firebugs and the officials/politicians who tolerate them or even support them.

It sounds like big business at its worst. Literally destruction of the enviormnent for a bunch of hotels which can be burned too, in the future! But i bet that would be looked at as arson.

[Hellenika]

Originally Posted by Ellinas
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Well big metro areas are not in a big danger because asphalt and cement are not flammable (like the trees) and there is a strong presense of the Fire Department there.
However many times in the past these fires reached small villages or towns and burned parts of them. So besides the natural disaster, from time to time they are many people who are losing all their belongings and property because of these fires. And the most important of all, in some cases they are human loses too, like the two people who were killed yesterday in Thessaly as the fire trapped them in the forest.

I don't think we can find any words to describe these firebugs and the officials/politicians who tolerate them or even support them.

I cannot believe the level the government there has stooped to. I read about the people trapped in a truck I think, but I didn't know this was intentional yet.

[Ellinas]

Polydoras: "The government handled the situation with the fires succesfully"

ana.gr/anaweb/user/showplain?maindoc=5477766&maindocimg=5458811&servi ce=5

So according to Mr. Polydoras what would happen if the government would handle the situation unsuccesfully??

How he dares saying this to the families of the people who were killed at Thessaly?
How he dares saying this to all the people who lost their house or all their property at Thessaly and other provincial places?
How he dares saying this to the more than 5 million inhabitants of Attica who are going to face the many consequences of the Parnitha disaster?

Police is a mess and these days we also realized that Fire Department is a mess too under the secretaryship of Polydoras. And what he does is keep saying that they are succesfull! Time to send him home??