Another summer, another series of tragic wildfires in Greece. Evia has burned, again. Attica has burned, again. Serres has been burning for a month.

Human lives, forests, houses, crops, all lost, again.

In Evia, it was the fault of a hawk, or so we were told, with the bird allegedly causing the fire after sitting on high voltage cables. In north-eastern Attica, 35 were flying in, we were told. Radar applications showed two or three at the most.

Money for NATO equipment, Rafal, F-35 and whatnot, exists. But money to keep us from getting burned is nowhere to be found.

The climate crisis is not an empty letter for the government to use for communication purposes, with only the establishment of a ministry to show for it, which all it does is issue bans on citizens’ access to forests, groves and parks.

Climate crisis means that we will encounter more and more frequent extreme weather conditions – droughts, floods, winds. A national prevention plan is therefore needed.

What needs to be done immediately is:

• re-establish the Forestry Service with adequate funding and staffing
• permanent recruitment in the Fire Brigade and provision of adequate air and ground equipment
• immediate restoration of the public infrastructure that was destroyed and payment of compensation to those affected
• prohibition of any activity in the burnt areas, including the installation of wind turbines

What we experience every summer is not just an unfortunate incident, it is not a natural disaster, it is not by chance. This inadequacy of civil protection is a political choice of all governments who time and again do nothing – who do not care about our actual safety.

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