“Out of the 3,800,000 acres of Attica’s total area, approximately 400,000 occupy buildings near or within forest lands in Penteli, Parnitha, Ymittos and other peri-urban forests. Of these, 20% to 30% are arbitrary. And this after problematic, in several cases, decisions and generous acts of state bodies, local government representatives and a series of delaying tactics for decades.
And so of these properties thousands are damaged or destroyed by fires every summer season. 10%-20% of the land destroyed by fires in the whole country is in Attica precisely because of the proximity of cities and forests that support the start of fires, which are about 150-300 per year. Tens of thousands of houses across Attica are surrounded by flaming pines and other trees, even inside their balconies, in a fatal embrace. With their owners not taking into account and being indifferent in many cases to the risk they are running.
They have the illusion that fire will not happen to them and that they will not be in danger. And this when it has been established that every 20-30 years the fires sweep all the regions of Attica without exception, from Varybombi to Dionysos and from Keratea to Saronida.
The fire will “hit” with almost mathematical precision sooner or later everyone. Without the sufferings of other fire-stricken citizens being taught. In a dramatic complacency, beyond the responsibilities that certainly exist for the forest firefighting forces, whose mistakes allowed the fire front to enter the neighborhoods of Vrilissi and Chalandrio. It is indicative that when a few months ago the Ministry of Environment and Energy requested that special fire protection studies be drawn up by citizens who have homes in peri-urban forests, an extremely small percentage of them responded and there was a new ministerial decision so that these studies are not needed.
The same happened with yet more deadly fires in Attica, when it was found that residents of areas affected by the fires were refusing the opening of roads and the zoning of certain areas to stop illegal construction in the forests. With painful consequences…».
Speaking to “To Vima tis Kyriaki”, a member of the Civil Protection mechanism made this long-winded, if not revealing, report after the latest disaster in NE Attica. In a “carbon” fire disaster with that of August 2009 that started from the same place and burned the same areas.
“In the countryside the forests enter the cities”
As noted by the president of the Fire Brigade Officers Union speaking to “To Vima” Konstantinos Tsigas, “in the countryside the forests are encroaching on the cities due to the desolation of rural areas and urbanization, while in Attica and other urban centers the cities are encroaching on the forests with painful consequences. I estimate that about half of the fire-fighting forces are expended in containing the ravages of flames in homes surrounded by pines, without fire protection measures. And so they do not participate in the effort to extinguish the main front of the fire that continues its destructive work. Unfortunately, we notice that most of the disasters in the houses are caused by burning objects and embers that “sit” on the ceramic roofs, cause the insulation to overheat and the fire enters the houses.
Every year the Fire Service in forest fire planning identifies 20-30 areas of the so-called “residential density” of great vulnerability and vulnerability from fire disasters. And among them are Afidnes, Drosopigi, the area of Mikrochorio – Kapandriti, the coastal area of Agioi Apostolos, Penteli, Anthousa and Drafi, Fasideri, the settlement near the tidal station of Kaisarianis, Dioni, Kallitechnoupoli, the Kalamos, Kapandriti, Dionysos, Agios Stefanos, Kryoneri, Drosia, Anixi, Rodopoli, Hasia. Almost 60%-70% of these areas have been affected in the last two years and most of them also in this week’s fire in NE Attica.
Finally, former deputy fire chief and arson expert Andrianos Gourbatsis speaking in “Vima”, he identifies other problematic points in the presence of houses in the forests. As he notes, “the state, over time, in various ways, essentially puts ideas into would-be arsonists motivated by land encroachment. The presence of arbitrary buildings within forest areas causes difficulties in suppression in the event of a fire, while adding new fuel to the already existing one, as there are gas bottles, heating oil tanks, etc. in the buildings.”
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