PM Mitsotakis: This year we had to face 4,000 fires; the state can now respond faster with aid

The Greek state has a framework of state aid "which is tried and which we want to see operate with speed," Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis said during a meeting he chaired on Tuesday afternoon with Attica regional authorities and mayors whose cities were affected by fire.

"I believe we can do this because we have handled other cases of natural catastrophes with a lot more beneficiaries," he said of aid to families and businesses that were affected by the fire that broke out on August 11. Mitsotakis was accompanied by several ministers at the meeting in the northern suburb of Penteli.

Mitsotakis also referred to repercussions of the fires, saying that the government is drafting a plan to prepare for flooding, and said that in 2024 nearly 4,000 fires broke out, with many of these located in the Attica Region. The one that broke out in Varnavas on August 11 "was unfortunately, the only fire that spread beyond control, despite the fact that here as well the right decisions were made, as proven in several other fires - the dogma of a very fast first attack," he said.

The premier said that at the end of the fire season this summer, an overall review will take place in parliament about what went well and what not, and he also extolled the role of technology in managing the fires.

"Technology has helped us a lot. There is no relation any more in terms of the speed we see fires compared to what happened in the past," he said. "And this, yes, needs a combination of drones, cameras, but we are already building a technological infrastructure that will allow us to locate fires very quickly and to naturally adopt the dogma of first attack much more aggressively than we have done."

For more: https://www.amna.gr/en/article/842634/PM-Mitsotakis-This-year-we-had-to-face-4-000-fires-the-state-can-now-respond-faster-with-aid