A meeting on the course of cleaning and the opening of firefighting zones as part of the preparation for the firefighting period was held today in Civil Protection under the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Giannis Kefalogiannis. The aim of the meeting, attended by executives of the Department of Forests and Forests of the Ministry of Environment and Energy, ADMIE, HEDNO, the Armed Forces and the Fire Brigade, was the course of the planning and the coordination of the above -mentioned agencies and services for DEDDIE.
“We are currently in a final phase of preparation and in combination with the enhanced power that the Fire Brigade will have this year, a total of 18,000 people including seasonal and permanent, firefighters. I think we are entering the best possible prospects in the firefighting season, “Mr Kefalogiannis said, among other things, and added that during the meeting, they ended up in a series of actions that are necessary this year” in order to have the best possible preparation for the summer that comes to us. ” “It is a given that this year, we will obviously be fires again, our goal is to be able to reduce the devastating consequences, to prevent human losses and at the end of the period to have the conclusions we want, so that we can prepare again for next year.”
The minister referred to the “Antinero” program, which he said is a very large program, including actions of 580 million euros, while pointing out cooperation with other bodies such as HEDNO and ADMIE in the section of firefighting zones, as well as the contribution of the Armed Forces.
“There was a broad briefing, each of the bodies about his subject, where among other things it includes the very large Antinero program. Abouts, in the last four years we will reach a total of 580 million euros of actions, where there will be a cleaning of the countryside – if I have the term – which has been done for 50 years, “he noted.
In response to a question, the minister said that tens of millions of euros were being carried out to maintain and clean medium and low voltage networks on the DEDDIE side. Correspondingly, as he pointed out, ADMIE implements a program of several millions of euros for high and high voltage networks, and the Armed Forces contribute to cleaning and creating firefighting zones. “It is also very important that in critical mountain massifs in Attica, underground programs are currently running, as you are well aware that one of the main causes of fires in previous years have also been some issues about this field, so all of these actions we consider to have the best possible effect.”
Concerning the cleaning of the plots, Mr Kefalogiannis recalled that on April 1, the submission period for the cleaning statements of the plots begins, while publicly appealing to all citizens to proceed with the cleaning of their land, as he said, as he said, as he said, as he said. He even emphasized that last year’s experience showed that where there was a cleaned plot, the fire – even if it went – was not disastrous compared to an uninformed. The minister noted that this year the audit would be very strict, and stressed that the responsibility, both for the controls and the imposition of the possible fines, are municipalities.
“So I would say, everyone should go into this process. Last year we were reminiscent of 830,000 land cleaning. ” The goal for this year is to overcome this number. “There will be the corresponding intense controls and where there are misdemeanors there will be fines,” he noted.
Regarding the preventive measures beyond land cleaning, the minister said the program “AEGIS” is underway, which will boost the country’s shielding by terrestrial and aerial means. This year, he said, we will have the whole national fleet and about 49 aerial means that will contribute to both surveillance and extinguishing fires. At the same time, he pointed out that in collaboration with the relevant bodies, drones would be implemented, further enhancing prevention and repression actions.
Concerning the number of fires – 3000 in total – in the first quarter of 2025, Mr Kefalogiannis said that the existence of the climate crisis is now given and the evidence itself proves.
“Already out of the formal firefighting period there are hundreds of incidents,” he said, adding that thanks to the effective intervention of the Fire Brigade, their expansion was prevented. “We have prevented from expanding, preventing the damage they could have, in any case this is a very large bell ahead of the firefighting season. That is why today’s meeting has shown that all the relevant bodies must do what they must on their own in order to get the best possible result in the summer, “he said.
It is noted that during the meeting the Minister was briefed by the Director General of the Ministry of the Environment, Vangelis Goudoufas, the CEO of DEDDIE Anastasios Manos, the representative of the Director General A cage for existing planning and actions that have been implemented so far.
The meeting was also attended by Deputy Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Evangelos Tournas, Secretary General of Civil Protection Nikos Papaefstathiou, Fire Brigade Chief Lieutenant General Theodoros Vagias, Deputy Chief of the Fire Brigade Athanasios Balafas, Southern Greece Inspector General Lieutenant General Christos Platas, Commander of the Single Crisis Management Center (ESKEDIKI) Lieutenant General Dimitrios Briolas Alexandris, the special associate of the Deputy Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Fivos Theodorou, the Director of the Attica District Athanasios Fountoulakis as well as General Managers, Counselors and executives of ADMIE and DEDDIE.