Fire season in Greece: tomorrow the parliament will consider a program to purchase 7 Canadian aircraft

In preparation for the upcoming fire season, a program to purchase seven new Canadian aircraft is being considered in the Greek Parliament on Friday, March 15th.

Deputy Minister for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Evangelos Tournas visited the island of Zakynthos yesterday as part of timely preparations for the upcoming fire season in order to protect the territory.

During the short visit, a meeting was held with all interested authorities, tells newsbeast.gr. It was attended by MP Dionysios Aktipis, Mayor Giorgos Stasinopoulos, Deputy Governor of the region Konstantinos Kapodistrias, representatives of civil protection of local government, fire service, Greek police, coast guard and forest service. The Deputy Minister said:

“We have the Αιγίς program worth $2.2 billion, which includes 39 subprograms. Two of them have already been signed, and on Friday in Parliament we will pass a large program to purchase 7 additional Canadian aircraft, and then we will go to sign a contract with the company and the Canadian government to be one of the first to start receiving this new aircraft. Two out of seven will be paid EUand the rest of the money will be taken from the Recovery Fund and the program ΕΣΠΑ. There are another 37 programs that are under implementation and are gradually starting to be signed up. They concern 1,800 fire department vehicles. The first 400 will be signed soon, within a month. Next are the project vehicles and personnel transfer vehicles that will take over local government, security forces and the armed forces. The project has about 800 vehicles that will help us, first of all, at the prevention stage, to clean up areas, as well as at the extinguishing stage.”

Mr. Tournas noted, reports APE-MPE:

“This year 200 million have been approved under the Antinero program, which covers the whole of Greece. We’re focusing on suburban areas, opening up some access roads to fire ecosystems, fire zones, and everything that needs to be done in the first phase because it’s a huge program that started last year. About 150 million euros have been spent, with another 200 million to be allocated this year and will continue in the coming years. This is done with the care of our foresters, in collaboration with our fire services, who determine what these areas are, mainly in mixed areas where we have forests and populated areas and we face the greatest risk.

Our target is the most vulnerable and sensitive areas where we may face a problem for human life due to fire. This is where we prioritize. As for the financing of municipalities, last year it amounted to 25 million, and this year it will exceed 30 million euros. The first allocations have already been made, and we have agreed that they will be allocated within a month to begin work. What we need are the resources that we can attract and use as quickly as possible so that we can go into the fire fight a little better prepared. We continue to conduct preventative cleanings and have a better plan than last year. We need to move to a place where we have better surveillance, better intervention and better prevention.”

Mr. Tournas particularly focused on the new criminal code. “We have tightened the framework,” he said, “there are also changes now being made to the fire regulations relating to fire protection, and everyone should be informed that the penalties will now be so severe that they will have catastrophic consequences for the arsonist, whether with intent or by negligence. They start from 10 years and from 50,000 euros. We have already strengthened the Directorate for combating arson crimes. In addition to the system, we also need a mechanism to catch arsonists. We have made many arrests. Every day, even now that we We say arrests are being made.”

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