Post-Answer of Government Representative
A harsh attack on the opposition, but also in a “sad minority of media”, as he characteristically reports of misinformation and propaganda on the occasion of the major fires of the last 48 hours across the territory, the Deputy Minister and the Deputy Prime Minister launched in his post. Pavlos Marinakis.
In addition, Mr. Marinakis responds to the point of criticism, but also in myths, as he himself characterizes them, who, as he points out, aims to mislead public opinion.
Specifically, the government spokesman responds to charges of lack of firefighters and media, but also to the use of 112 and government initiatives in the field of prevention.
Following is the following post by government spokesman Pavlos Marinakis:
In recent days and our country has been tested by repeated fires, which have erupted almost simultaneously in many different areas, each of which with distinctive characteristics.
The work of the Fire Brigade, as a whole of the Security Forces, often with the help of the Armed Forces and our volunteers, is titanium and deserves the ultimate respect and unlimited gratitude to all of us.
The state must, as it does, help them and stand in their work.
Unfortunately, as is the case every year, but also in every crisis in our country, opposition parties see the difficult and sometimes tragic moments of anxiety of citizens, as an opportunity to unfold their opposition, with the only “ally” they have, which is no other than misinformation, adopt this propaganda.
Following a detailed presentation made by the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Yiannis Kefalogiannis, together with the leaders of ELAS and the Fire Department, I gathered some reasonable questions of citizens, as well as some myths that consciously disperses.
1) “We have police but we don’t have firefighters”?
No, this is not the case. This year’s Fire Brigade has historically been the largest number of staff, with 18,000 men and women (an increase of 30% compared to 2019, which was 13,900), of which 15,500 permanent or 5 years of obligation and 2,500 seasonal.
Indeed, according to the latest Eurostat data available for 2023, Greece had the third highest number of firefighters per capita, after Croatia and Estonia and more than double compared to the average of the 27 countries of the European Union.
Recruits continued in 2024 this year. In addition, seasonal firefighters now sign 8 months, instead of 6 months in force until last year, with the aim of better coverage of prolonged, a fire -crisis period.
At the same time, the number of volunteer firefighters this year exceeds 4,900 out of 2,130 in 2021, and a significant increase is recorded in the number of civil protection volunteers.
2) “Do we have shortages in air means and vehicles of the Fire Brigade”?
The government has placed particular emphasis on boosting the Fire Brigade, and the AEGIS program with investments of 2.1 billion euros is in full swing for full modernization of equipment, media and firefighting systems. The earthquake fleet of the Fire Service this year has more than 3,680 vehicles, from 3,410, which was in 2022, while, in terms of aerial means, this year amounts to 82 out of 61 in 2019.
3) “Why do some people do against the” 112 “and the plans for the discharge of settlements? We heard, for example, the Mayor of Patras say that those who ignored the “112” messages saved their possessions. “
Anyone who speaks “lightly the heart” against “112”, let his allegations be repeated in front of the victims’ relatives in tragedies such as Eye, where there was no warning. The “112”, which was put into operation by our government in 2019, as well as overall evacuation mechanisms, is a national conquest and a legacy for the protection of human life, which is the supreme target, in the face of disasters and natural disasters.
The evacuations of areas, which are decided by recommendations by local authorities, have saved lives and anyone who is trying to depreciate the discharge system is criminal irresponsible. However, in order for the citizens to understand the magnitude of the hypocrisy, they must know that the Municipality of Patras submitted a total of 11 requests for 112, 8 of which were submitted by the mayor himself.
4) “Is it true that nothing has been done in the field of prevention?”
No. On the contrary, the government has prioritized prevention, with programs such as Antinero, the emphasis on the cleaning of land and the strengthening of municipalities with fire protection resources. Specifically, each year we reinforce the Antinero program, implemented by 2022 with the aim of protecting forest areas and preventing firefighting zones. This year project contracts exceed € 210 million, from 65 million in 2022, the first year of implementation of the program. Overall by 2022 more than 600 million euros have been allocated for fire protection contracts through Antinero.
In this context, this year, forest road maintenance has been held on an area of 121,000 acres, cleaning work on 96,000 acres of mixed firefighting zones in 11,000 acres as well as maintenance of mixed firefighting zones in 15,000 acres. Overall, we are upgrading and managing more than 250,000 acres of forest ecosystems, with additional technical projects on the forest road network and biomass management resulting from the forests.
Municipal funding of municipalities, from 31 million last year, has also increased significantly to 40 million euros this year to take fire protection measures, and the measure of land cleaning was implemented for a second year. The total number of statements exceeded 700,000 and fines were imposed on owners who did not carry out mandatory cleaning of their land and their properties.
As for drones operating in the territory, their number has doubled, reaching 82 from 45 last year. Drones provide 24 -hour thermal cameras surveillance and immediate image to the business center for the timely mobilization of ground and air means.
5) “Scenarios and information on the fire in Achaia were traded on social media, but also in some media. Is all this true? “
Unfortunately, some in front of their opposition fury did not hesitate to terrorize the citizens, spreading false information through social media posts that have been “reported” in some media. We heard, for example, that there was “information” “about the number of elderly who failed to get out of Patras”, for a “burning third floor in the Karamandanio Hospital” and other fake news. Those who have tried to play with the anxiety of residents in the affected areas by trafficking false news should be held accountable there alone.
6) “Who finally put the fires?”
The responsible for the Greek Police and Fire Brigade will provide answers, based on the investigative material, the arrests that have been made and will be made, as well as the data they collect on the field. What we can emphasize on our part is that there is now a powerful mechanism of investigating and identifying all the causes, as well as possible perpetrators. The debt of the state is to lead the officials to justice.
7) “Is there impunity? What changes have been made to the field of criminal penalties for arson by negligence or fraud? “
The government has tightened the penalties for arson both negligent and deliberately. With the SYRIZA Criminal Code (Law 4619/2019), the penalties of arson were generally a misdemeanor and usually suspended penalties.
With the Criminal Code we voted in in 2021 (Law 4855/2021), as well as the subsequent changes we have made, sanctions have been tightened, and all penalties involving forest arson are being derived in prison: they are not suspended, nor converted in any way. Overall every sentence of over one year is not “virtual”, but real and the perpetrator enters prison to serve his sentence. There is no longer a state of impunity for arson.
Only 300 arrests have been made this year by the Fire Brigade and their cases have been brought to justice.
8) “How much has the regular budget and investment budget for fire and civil protection from 2019 be increased?”
There is a large increase in funds for investment in firefighting and civil protection. The budget for the Ministries of Citizen Protection and Civil Protection in 2019 was 2,247 billion euros while in 2025 it reached 3.507 billion, ie +56% (+1,260 billion).
9) “Is” weather “an excuse? How many fires is the fire brigade to manage daily in the territory? “
No, the weather and the climate crisis in general is not an excuse, but a harsh reality. According to Fire Brigade data, to date in 2025 is the second worst firefighter in days with a risk of 5 after 2023 which was the worst year historically. Specifically, for 6 days this year large areas of Greece were in the highest risk category 5 (when all 2023 was 7) while for 28 days of Greece’s areas were also in the very high class of 4.
The Fire Brigade manages this July and August about 40 agrarian fires per day, while the crucial 48 -hour Monday and Tuesday was called upon to face more than 150 agrarian fires under extreme meteorological conditions. We note that we had large outbreaks in Chios, Achaia, Preveza and Zakynthos at the same time, and especially on the Patras front, 4 outbreaks were displayed in different areas, which resulted in the internal distribution of firefighters.
10) “Only Greece burns? What is the report of burnt land to date in the rest of Europe and who in our country? “
Unfortunately, the whole Mediterranean and a total of Europe is also tested this year by devastating fires. It is no coincidence that international news agencies point out that “the Mediterranean is burning” commenting on the fires that occur in almost all countries in the region.
Concentrated, the number of burnt areas in southern European countries is more than twice the average of the last 20 years, as opposed to Greece where we move on average, despite the extreme meteorological conditions we face, with high temperatures and high winds.
In Spain, dozens of fires have been raging for a week. Even in the suburbs of Madrid there were evacuations of large geographical areas, and thousands of residents were removed from the fires and the European firefighting mechanism was requested. In Portugal the disasters are the largest recorded since 2017, there have also been huge disasters in France. Fires also occur in the Balkan region, such as in Albania and Montenegro, where they are still raging. Fires are affecting Turkey while Cyprus has been tested hard in the past few weeks.
From the beginning of this firefighting period, which is not yet over, since we have many more critical days ahead of us, every day the men and women of the Fire Service, the Greek Police and Civil Protection, as well as our volunteers, are fighting for a long battle to face dozens. They are heroes and again, we owe them unlimited respect for their titanic efforts.
Our debt is to continue the work of shielding the state every year by staff, means and equipment, against conditions that, unfortunately, become more difficult and we are determined to continue to do so, utilizing all the available means. This is our debt to every citizen of this country and we will continue to do so.