Kikilias: Volunteer firefighters and citizens clearing their properties define a new kind of patriotism

Some 4,000 fires started in Greece in 2024, 50% more than in the previous year, Climate Crisis & Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said in an interview to Skai 100.3 FM on Monday.

Kikilias spoke of the fires this season and the upgrades of Civil Protection that began in 2019 under Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis.

Among other information, he said that drones were stationed in several areas of Greece, starting with 28 in Attica Region. In addition, drones are being used in Corinth, Evia and Thassos islands, the region of Evrotas River in Arcadia, Thessaloniki, Giannena (Ioannina), the region of Evros River, Rhodopi, and Xanthi.

One of the changes in fire management includes loading airplanes and helicopters patrolling in Attica with water, so that once a drone locates a fire it may be doused with water from the air until the ground teams arrive, the minister said.

Kikilias also praised “the valuable and selfless work of 9,000 volunteers working besides the firefighters, and the responsible attitude of 840,000 citizens who cleaned their land this year” from flammable material, following the opening of a related platform

“Volunteering is the new patriotism,” he said, adding that all changes in methods and means comprise “a new dogma that came to help us manage very difficult conditions. This year 200 fires broke out that were problematic, and big battles were waged to deal with them.”