Greece
The2003 Fire Season in Greece
02 September 2003
Apreliminary report by GFMC correspondent Dr. Gavriil Xanthopoulos
The2003 fire season in Greece was not an exceptionally difficult one, as those inFrance, Spain and Portugal. This fact, in combination with the strongfirefighting mechanism of the country, resulted in a very small burned area.
Thewinter and spring seasons had been quite rainy. This resulted in strong grassgrowth and fears of a bad fire season. However, except for a dry May and June,the fears did not materialize. There were rains (mainly thunderstorms with rain)in July and August which helped keep fire danger to manageable levels. The rainsoccurred mainly in western, central and northern Greece. There the vegetation did not reach maximum flammability. On thecontrary, the south and southeast part of the country did not get any rain andalso experienced many days with strong NE meltemi winds, bringing thelevel of fire danger to level 4 (very high) in the 1-5 scale used in thecountry. However, this fact did not result in large fires.
Thekey point explaining the reduced burned area is the strengthening of the firesuppression mechanism in the country in the last few years. The Greek Fire Corpsto which the responsibility for forest firefighting was transferred from theForest Service in 1998 has been continuously improving. Following the disastrous1998 and 2000 fire seasons it has received unprecedented support by theGovernment. Its permanent personnel, firefighters and officers, has exceeded tenthousand people. About five thousand seasonal firefighters are added to thisevery summer. The number of firefighting trucks has exceeded 1050. Therelatively easy fire seasons of 2001 and 2002 have given this personnel,especially the newcomers, the opportunity to gain experience. However, the mostimportant element in this support has been the huge aerial firefighting supportoffered to the ground firefighting mechanism.
Theaerial means in the country have become among the strongest in the world whencompared to the size of the country. The national fleet of Canadairwaterbombers, operated by the Air Force, includes fourteen older CL-215 and tennew (ordered in 1998 and gradually delivered) CL-415. There are also twentysingle-engine PZL M-18 Dromader (one of them crashed on Lesvos island on 25August 2003 while firefighting, killing its pilot). Also, the Fire Corps hasacquired two twin-engine helicopters anduses them for coordination of firefighting operations.
Thenational aerial fleet is augmented each year by a large number of contractedfirefighting helicopters which provided an unequaled firefighting capacity. Thisyear the contracted helicopter fleet included three Erickson S-64, four MI-26,three Kamov-32, and one MI-14.
Inaddition to the size of the aerial fleet, there is a seemingly blank checkin regard to the costs of mobilizing all these means. The concept of initialattack has been applied generously, with heavy-duty helicopters and Canadairsbeing dispatched even for insignificant grass fires. This fact, in combinationwith the weather conditions that excluded more than half of the country (centraland north) from high fire danger, allowing concentration of firefightingcapacity to the south part, brought the burned area to very low levels.
Concludingthis short report, it is worth mentioning some more elements that will helpreaders develop an understanding of the situation, before drawing conclusionsand making comparisons with the Mediterranean countries that suffered from firesthis year.
- The cost for forest firefighting, including the strengthening of the Fire Corps and the increase in the number and use of aerial means, has approximately tripled when compared to the 1995-1997 budget of the Forest Service for the same purpose.
- Funding for forest management and prevention has been declining. The huge burned areas of 1998 and 2000 may provide some delay, but if this policy continues it is inevitable to see bad fire years in the future in spite of the huge firefighting infrastructure.
- In Greece, the General Secretariat for Civil Protection is the umbrella mechanism that coordinates the activities of preparedness and intervention to all disasters. In regard to forest fires, it is responsible for the daily production of the fire danger map for the country, which is used not only by the Fire Corps but also by the other involved players (Air Force, Army, Local Authorities, Forest Service ). The pre-suppression plans developed in all prefectures, provide for levels of local mobilization according to the fire danger rating for each prefecture. This framework, which has been established in the last few years, seems to be working quite well.
- The problem of Urban-Wildland Interface (WUI) is important in Greece, as in the other Mediterranean Countries, and continues to get worse. Even in this easy and successful fire season there were losses of homes and other structures. Some examples are:
- One (mainly grass) fire in the industrial zone of Oinophyta north of Athens resulted in the destruction of a paper-mill warehouse and other lesser damages including cars.
- One fire on the island of Salamis, 8 km from the base of Canadair airplanes, burned a number of WUI houses in less than an hour before being put under control.
- One fire that burned through the night on the island of Ikaria, before it was brought under control with the help of aerial forces after sunrise, burned a number of houses there.
Further Reading:
An International Workshop “Forest Fires in the Wildland-Urban Interface and Rural Areas in Europe: An integral planning and management challenge, was held in Athens, Greece, 15-16 May 2003. The presentations and the discussions resulted in a series of conclusions in regard to the fire problem in the WUI/RA. These conclusions range from the protection of individual residences to more general measures for the reduction of the potential for disaster in such areas. The conclusions are presented on two websites:
- http://www.euwarm.org/workshop/IndexIni.htm
- http://www.fria.gr/WARM%20Webpage/WARM.htm
Contact:
Dr. Gavriil Xanthopoulos
National Agricultural Research Foundation
Institute for Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems
and Forest Products Technology
Terma Alkmanos, 11528
Athens
Greece
e-mail: gxnrtc@panafonet.gr
