Mount Orvilos in Serres has been burning for 28 days, the local community is in despair, and the executive branch of the Mitsotakis government is not taking any action to extinguish the fire!
Few Greek media outlets have paid attention to the incredible environmental disaster. Georgios Tatsios, the mayor of Sintika-Serres, called for the return of aviation to fight the fire that burned 26,000 acres of virgin forest on the Greek-Bulgarian border.
“There are several mountains in the municipality of Sintika. Mount Orvilos was almost completely burned. The pine forest above Ahladohori, which also burned 20 years ago, burned down. Explosions of ammunition left behind can be heard war times. There are still minefields in this area. Every time the fire brigade tried to get there, there were explosions, and since human life was more important than anything else, they retreated, – he said. – To stop the fire, it was necessary to resort to air means. They have been trying to contain it for 20 days, but no efforts have been made this week. We understand there are a lot of fires, but here too, over 20,000 acres have burned, and we're worried about the next day.”
He noted that the fire had spread to Bulgarian territory, and they had requested air support from France, Italy and Sweden. “The local community was mobilized and we asked the ministry for some things so that we wouldn't have the same thing. We ask for guarantees. 10 days ago we took a step towards evacuating the village of Akhladohori and discovered that there was no evacuation route, – the mayor said. – We ask the ministry to make another road connecting the villages so that we do not lose lives. Fire detection systems need to be installed. We ask the ministry to include us in the high fire risk zones.”
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