Kimon Frigate: A New Dawn for Greece’s Navy
Categories:
Greece conducted a massive exercise Thursday to test the country’s evolving wildfire response, which increasingly replies on more firefighters and advanced technologies such as drone surveillance as Greece is already well into its wildfire season.
Firefighters, rescuers and army personnel stood ready to battle an encroaching fire near a summer camp by the seaside town of Lavrio, 70 kilometers south of Athens, with fireplanes skimming treetops and releasing water in coordinated low-altitude drops. Commanders on the ground huddled over tablets streaming real-time drone footage while firetrucks raced to the scene. The coast guard also took part in a drill simulating the evacuation of a children’s summer camp threatened by fires on multiple fronts.
Authorities described the drill’s conditions as “realistic”-hot and windy after weeks of drought.
Civil Protection Minister Ioannis Kefaloyiannis said 18,000 permanent and seasonal personnel, backed by thousands of volunteers would be mobilized this year.
“It is clear that the conditions this year will be particularly difficult,” he told reporters who were attending the firefighting exercise.
Wildfires have been devastating Greece in recent years. In 2021, more than 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) were destroyed. In 2023, damage from wildfire surged to 1,745 square kilometers (675 square miles) -roughly three times the 2011-2020 average, according to data from the European Union’s Forest Fire Information System.
Also in 2023, one of Europe’s biggest wildfires on record burned for weeks in northern Greece, killing at least 20 people.
While climate change has been driving Greece’s growing wildfire risks, the government has been criticized for not having modern and adequate firefighting means to battle the increased wildfires, while the lack of firefighting personnel had been exacerbating the problem.
Some 9,777 wildfires broke out across Greece last year according to the fire brigade, up from 8,257 in 2023.
Some 18,000 firefighters will be available this year, which is the highest number on record, assisted by thousands of volunteers, Civil Protection and Climate Crisis Minister Yiannis Kefaloyiannis first announced in April. Also, some 80 drones with thermal cameras -nearly double last year’s number- will be available to accelerate the detection of wildfires.
“We shouldn’t be fooled by the fact that climate conditions this year have seemed to be a little milder than in previous years,” he said. “The bad scenarios lie ahead.”
According to the World Meteorological Organization, weather across the globe is becoming increasingly unstable and extreme due to the impact of climate change, with 2024 being the hottest year ever recorded.
In Greece, summers have become increasingly hot and dry with temperatures reaching up to 45 degrees Celsius. At the same time, rapidly changing strong winds are fueling more destructive wildfires that are difficult to be put under control. Last August, during Greece’s hottest summer on record, a woman died and thousands of hectares of land were burnt when a wildfire swept through Athens’ northern suburbs.
Moreover, Greece has earmarked some 2 billion euros ($2.3 billion) to buy new aircraft, meteorological stations and drones to improve its capabilities against wildfires and other natural disasters.
