Is Greece ready for wildfire season?

“Use your wrist! Now, change the stream!” A concentrated Katerina Kaglia holds a fire hose, focusing its stream of water on a tree trunk. Stavros Salayiannis, operations manager of the Vyronas Volunteer Fire Department, stands by her side giving instructions. Everything has to happen quickly, he tells her, there is no time for missteps.

For now, the two are only practicing how to deal with a number of typical real-world scenarios. But it’s already unseasonably hot for June and temperatures have been going up all across Europe. In Greece, people haven’t forgotten the devastating wildfires that destroyed 75,000 hectares (185,320 acres) of forest in 2021, or the 2018 fires along the Attica coast that killed 102 in Mati.

In 2021, wildfires raged across large parts of Greece

Thankfully, no one died during the wildfires last summer. Nevertheless, the forests on the north side of the island of Euboea were almost entirely destroyed, and in the Peloponnese region, a ring of fires raged around ancient Olympia. People in Varympompi and Afidnes, just outside Athens, were forced to flee their homes and ultimately lost everything.

In Vyronas, where charred stumps glisten in the sun, the scars of last year’s fires are everywhere. Temperatures here climb above 30 Celsius (86 Fahrenheit) before midday. Just a few kilometers away lies the sea of white houses that make up the metropolis of Athens. Never have the flames come so close to the city as they did in 2021.

Serving in the volunteer fire department

Kaglia says the devastating fires of 2021 led her to join the Vyronas Volunteer Fire Department. “I couldn’t just sit and watch as Greece burned. I wanted to help,” the 24-year-old tells DW. 

A computer scientist by profession, she doesn’t receive pay for her work at the fire department. She says the hours she spends with colleagues patrolling the woods and in watchtowers on the lookout for fires in the forests of Vyronas are an expression of her deep connection to her home.

Kaglia says many of her compatriots still don’t understand the gravity of the situation. “I get furious when people throw cigarettes or garbage into the woods. Little acts of carelessness can spark devastating fires,” she says. 

Katerina Kaglia says she ‘couldn’t sit and watch as Greece burned’

Indeed, 90% of all wildfires in Greece are started by human error. Ever-longer periods of drought, combined with record temperatures, effectively make forests here defenseless against the flames.

And the fires have already begun this year. In early June, homes near the southern Athens suburb of Glyfada had to be evacuated. And on Euboea, Greece’s second-largest island, flames have already licked their way to the outskirts of the village of Gaia.

‘We’re making huge mistakes’

Stavros Salayiannis steers his red fire department pickup truck through the forests of Vyronas. He has been with the volunteer fire department for more than 30 years, and now serves as president of the Association of Greek Volunteer Forest Protection Organizations. The forest floor is covered in dry brush, leaves and downed trees.

A massive tree trunk blocks the fire trail: “That’s from last week’s storm. It should have been taken care of a while ago,” he says.

“We haven’t learned from past mistakes,” he adds. “On the contrary, we’re making huge mistakes. This year, for the first time, the Environment Ministry is working together with the ministry for civil protection. There’s a lot of money and the fire trails are still blocked to firefighters. That is an enormous problem if you’re fighting wildfires.”

Furthermore, he says, it illustrates how little stock is actually put into wildfire prevention.

Volunteer firefighter Stavros Salayiannis is working to protect against the threat of fire in Vyronas

Too little money for prevention

Salayiannis is astonished that last year’s massive loss of acreage and clear threat to Athens have not led to a change in mindset. “We don’t understand the necessity of starting annual prevention measures long before May 1. In Greece, we always wait until the very last moment,” he says.

That late start means it’s only a matter of days before the wildfire threat reaches Level 4, which in turn means that all fire prevention work in the forests must cease. “That puts us even further behind. It’s simply an issue of poor planning. I just hope we won’t have to pay too high a price for it,” he says.

After the fiery summer of 2021, Greek Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis promised improvements. He made new appointments to key government posts and also named a minister for climate crisis and civil protection. For Elias Tziritis, fire prevention coordinator at the World Wildlife Fund in Greece, such appointments are nothing more than lip service.

A recent report published by the environmental organization gave poor marks to the Greek government: 83.5% of state funds for fire protection between 2016 and 2020 went to fighting wildfires, and only 16.5% went to preventing them. The United Nations, however, recommends investing 45% in fire prevention, 35% in firefighting and 20% in reforestation.

The traces of last year’s wildfires are clearly visible in Vyronas

Calls for clarification and transparency

Tziritis is also critical of the way the budget is handled. “We have major problems with transparency. It’s not just about the amount of money, but rather, about strengthening control mechanisms so that we can understand what it’s being used for.” Needs, he says, vary greatly from community to community.

At one location, old power lines might be a problem. At another, communal leaders might need to educate locals about the dangers of uncontrollable fires sparked, for instance, by burning dry leaves or fumigating beehives.

“An action plan has to address the sources of fires. Why do fires break out in different places? If I don’t know, what kind of solutions can I offer?” he asks.

Elias Tziritis is a fire prevention expert at the environmental organization WWF Greece

Government hikes firefighting budget 

Insufficient data, flagging budgets and understaffing at the Forestry Department, lack of knowledge transfer: Tziritis’ list of criticisms is long. He has called for a systematic rethink and improved cooperation between communities, organizations and the government.

Greece has greatly increased its firefighting budget for 2022, and upped the number of available firefighting aircraft from 74 to 86. Furthermore, as a precaution, 250 firefighters from six EU countries, including Germany, have been called up as part of the European Civil Protection Mechanism.

Giorgos Amyras, the deputy minister for environmental protection issues, thinks his country is on the right path, despite ongoing difficulties. “For decades, the government concentrated on fighting fires, not preventing them,” he said. “This year, Greece has, for the first time in its history, taken important preventative steps.”

With its Antinero program, the Greek government has now invested €72 million ($76 million) in wildfire prevention — that covers 77,000 hectares (190,271 acres) of forest, 12,000 kilometers (7,456 miles) of fire trails and 1,600 kilometers of firebreaks.

Still, Amyras and the Greek government face a daunting task: namely, defining the overall direction of environmental policy and getting citizens involved.

“We have to protect the environment for coming generations,” said Amyras. And he is convinced the Greek government is taking the right steps to do just that.

This article was translated from German by Jon Shelton

• Forests can take decades to recover from fire

  World Heritage sites at risk

  Devastating fires raging through the World Heritage-listed Mount Kenya National Park this month have destroyed more than 80,000 hectares — almost half of the site. Fires here aren’t uncommon, but this year alone more than 100 have been reported, with many of them severe. The second tallest mountain in Africa is home to lakes, dense forest, glaciers and rare animals, all of which are at risk.

• Forests can take decades to recover from fire

  Buried underneath a blackened surface

  As Greece gradually comes to terms with the wildfires that left 80 people dead last summer, researchers from the Australian National University (ANU) have found that forests themselves need a long time to recover from such a devastating blaze. Scientists are only just beginning to understand how and to what extent fires affect life below the forest floor.

• Forests can take decades to recover from fire

  Soil takes decades, even centuries to recover

  In a recent study, Australian scientists found that it takes as long as 80 years after a wildfire and 30 years after logging for forest soils to fully recover. Working in more than 80 locations in southeast Australia, researchers tested over 700 soil samples that had suffered nine different types of damage – including wildfires, clearcutting and post-fire salvage logging.

• Forests can take decades to recover from fire

  Six months on

  Six months after a forest fire struck an area southwest of Berlin in summer 2018, large sections of the affected land have been cleared away. Many of the remaining trees are blackened. Scientists believe that besides the wildfires themselves, post-fire clearing can cause the loss of key soil nutrients and have long-lasting impacts on forest soils.

• Forests can take decades to recover from fire

  Human intervention disrupts natural cycles

  In many places, wildfires are an important part of a natural cycle. Some trees, like the eucalyptus, even need fire to release their seeds. Post-fire ash can actually inject large amounts of nutrients into the soil immediately after a fire, scientists say. But there can be too much of a good thing, and extended droughts, logging and fire suppression can all disrupt natural cycles.

• Forests can take decades to recover from fire

  Ancient ecosystems razed to the ground

  Portugal’s 700 year-old Pinhal de Leiria forest was destroyed during the wildfires that swept across Europe in summer 2018. A staggering 80 percent of the forest – home to all manner of bugs, birds and mammals – was destroyed. Despite help from local volunteers, it could take as long as half a century for the soil to regenerate.

• Forests can take decades to recover from fire

  Loss of vital nutrients

  During a fire, soil temperatures can reach 500 degrees Celsius (932 degrees Fahrenheit), leading to a loss of growth-promoting nutrients, such as phosphorus, organic carbon and nitrate. When fires occur repeatedly in the same place, it’s even harder for the forest floor to recover. Without these nutrients, soils are unable to support plant growth or store carbon.

• Forests can take decades to recover from fire

  No soil, no life

  Soils are a vital part of forest ecology. They are the basis of almost all terrestrial life, scientists point out – influencing plant growth and survival, nurturing communities of beneficial fungi and bacteria, and cycles of key nutrients. They also store enormous amounts of carbon.

• Forests can take decades to recover from fire

  Not just fire

  It’s not just excessive fires that disrupt soil composition. Clearing forests with machinery and burning the remaining debris also has an impact. Logging can expose the forest floor, compact the soil and deplete its nutrients, as well as release a lot of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

• Forests can take decades to recover from fire

  More hot years to come

  Germany’s Treuenbrietzen forest is a shadow of its former glory. Most of the remaining trees are ashen skeletons, and the forest floor is blackened. It faces an enormous struggle to regenerate. And given the predicted increase in the number, frequency and intensity of wildfires prompted by drought, it could be another lifetime before the seeds of restoration emerge.

  Author: Charli Shield

Article source: https://www.dw.com/en/is-greece-ready-for-wildfire-season/a-62254932?maca=en-rss-en-all-1573-rdf