Video document: who is to blame for the fire in Evia

A surveillance camera installed on a special fire service vehicle recorded the start of a fire in Evia.

In the video filmed camera from a fire truck, who was on duty near the site of the fire, can be seen how a few seconds after cars drove along the road, a fire broke out on the side of the road.

The video is a fragment of footage captured by a surveillance camera mounted on a patrol car. At 1:11 p.m., the driver of a passing car apparently threw down a lit cigarette. Several cars traveling in the opposite direction are seen stopping to watch the incident and immediately alert authorities.

Literally a few minutes later, due to a strong wind that reached 6-7 points on the Beaufort scale, the fire gained strength and moved forward, burning everything in its path.

The video, in addition to pointing to the source of the fire – it is 99% likely a cigarette butt thrown from the car – also pointed to another problem – the low efficiency of the fire patrol in its current form. After all, the firefighters, who were approximately 200-300 meters from the source of the fire, were unable to quickly react and immediately extinguish the fire. Most likely, they noticed it when it had already flared up.

We will not claim that the firefighters overslept (this is a common human factor), but the fact remains – the patrol did not notice the start of the fire, and it began to spread. Perhaps fire patrols should be equipped with some special equipment, drones, heat sensors, etc., so that they could respond faster. After all, relying on human attention in our technological age is, at the very least, naive.

The fire that broke out on Monday (29/07) at midday in the forest area between the villages of Petris and Kriza in Evia caused serious economic and environmental damage: forests were burned, crops and infrastructure were damaged.

According to Kimi-Aliveri Mayor N. Barakos, speaking to ERTNews: “The forest lands have been damaged, as well as agricultural crops, mainly olive trees and some vines. Of course, the infrastructure has been damaged. Also, the water supply from the fire passed by us, and now we are left without water. We have to restore all this. The costs and expenses are high, and it takes a long time. But now the most important thing is to save lives and property, and from tomorrow we will be able to take our time to look at these things and put them in order.”

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