55% of burnt areas start from the power grid – WWF Greece coordinator analyzes why we fail every year.
Five years of failure have come to us this year to live another great fire and feel helpless at the mercy of every weather phenomenon we are unable to deal with because of the complete indifference of the rulers. Not a few. Full.
Let me explain.
Of the main causes of fire, the power grid
The 55% of the burned areas of 2025 came from fires that started from network electricity.
The Underground Its is a discussion held for at least 25 years and for some years a very small part of the vast network (250,000 km) was being settled.
Until 2021 everything changed.
The devastating weather Zero. and the major fires of 2021, in Northern Evia, Attica (Varybobe, Tatoi, Parnitha, Vilia, Kinea, Gerania Mountains), Peloponnese (Ancient Olympia, East Mani, Messinia, Achaia), Rhodes, Zakynthos, Focis and Evros coincided with the creation of a large "package" of money from the European Union.
He named it Recovery and Durability Fund (Recovery and Resilience Facility).
Its aim was to help EU Member States recover financially from the pandemic and, at the same time, to invest in modern and durable projects.
We have submitted to the Commission the plan "Greece 2.0”Five years later, it works like a joke.
In this he joined the subterraneanization of his aerial cables HEDGEEurope gave us for it close to 187,000,000 euros initially. We promised to intensify efforts.
What did we do?
Of the 26,000 to 27,000 km underground before 2021, at the end of 2025 it was 32,300 km. So from 10 to 11% we went to 12 to 13%.
Yeah, we didn't exactly run the program. At the same time, another issue was found. We did not prioritise this year.
(TATIANA BOLARY/EUROKINISSI)
«We are 20-25 years back in prevention»
THE Elias Giritis, Project coordinator for forest fires WWF Greece was a podcast guest Pop Science And he talked about what we see in many ways, to be done, explaining the causes and that we will not see properness unless we deal with prevention.
Where "prevention" is not only the cleaning of land and the increasingly heavy fines, but much more and more substantial.
First he informed that «We are 20 to 25 years behind in prevention, compared to the other Mediterranean countries and this is a problem, as climate change progresses, fires are becoming increasingly intense, bigger, based on forecasts from the international scientific community.
Therefore, the time we have to be able to adapt our system to prevention, but also to the new behaviour of these forest fires is considerably less than other European countries, which have started the necessary actions for many years.
For example, there should be local fire prevention plans».
«No municipality currently in the country has a prevention plan, while the municipalities have competence».
Of course, much else has to be done.
The lack of analysis of causes and targeted work
Mr. Geritis pointed out that «If we are only working on cleaning up the land and tightening up the penalties, but without analysing the causes in each area, if we do not work completely on the issue of forest fires, we will not find a solution..
Last year about 55% of the burned areas came from fires, which started from the power grid.
The network is a cause which should be very serious. It is also an example of how reducing fines or invoking climate change will not help us at all».
On the other hand, there are many difficulties in undergroundizing the entire country's network.
«It'll take several dozen years, at a huge cost. And that is where we return to the issue of planning and priorities.
Can we do everything anywhere?
Nope. In the meantime, in many cases we should not.
But on the basis of planning, we should see which areas are the most dangerous and which areas are most sensitive.
To set a target, for example, in no national park to have an aerial cable».
(DENMARK/EURKINSSI)
There is, of course, a basic problem.
«There is currently no study saying that "in these areas there is a higher risk than the network based on past incidents."
We should focus on these areas to solve specific problems on specific points. We lack the very targeted work and this results from an incomplete analysis of the causes and their correlations with specific forest fires.
If we go and invest in technology, but without the reception behind, we will lose much of that investment.
We focus too much on technology. It's also fashionable.
It's very imaginative to use technological tools, but we should have done the basic jobs behind them. Fuel management, the design, the Firefighter training to enable forest firefighters to integrate the technological tools that come».
The real danger of wind turbines
After breaking up the myth that wants to burn areas to enter wind turbines, he explained that there is a danger they create and it is the one we saw in Boeotia. Where the fire appears to have started from sparks on the wind turbine network.
«The establishment of wind farms on forest land, whether one agrees or disagrees at the moment is legal, therefore the incentive to change land use is lacking.
Many think that when a fire breaks out, a forest disappears by magic and it is much easier for a contractor to make a way.
The trees are there, the burned trees are there. So we still have to get in a machine, make a way, open squares for wind farms. It does not serve something to burn an area on a technical level to facilitate this work.
Also, it is not explained by anyone that in areas that have already settled wind farms the fires have broken out again. We'll have to take a look at this piece.», as the problem network can start again in the forest».
Τα δεδομένα δεν υποστηρίζουν πως καίγονται εκτάσεις για να μπουν ανεμογεννήτριες.
EUROKINISSI
ΑΝΤΩΝΗΣ ΝΙΚΟΛΟΠΟΥΛΟΣ
«Το πρόβλημα δεν είναι η απόκριση, αλλά η διαχείριση μεγάλων περιστατικών»
Ο ειδικός διευκρίνισε πως έχουμε επενδύσει πολλά εκατομμύρια στην απόκριση στα συμβάντα, όπου δεν έχουμε πρόβλημα και έχουμε αφήσει την πρόληψη, που κρίνει τα πάντα. Πληροφορίες αναφέρουν ότι το 80% των χρημάτων κάθε αντιπυρικής περιόδου πάει στην καταστολή και μόλις το 20% πάει στην πρόληψη.
«Είμαστε πάρα πολύ καλοί και στο χρόνο απόκρισης και στο να προλαβαίνουμε Πυρκαγιές 10.000 ενάρξεις. Μόνο 20 με 50 μας προκαλούν πάνω από το 80% των καμένων εκτάσεων. Το πρόβλημά μας είναι η διαχείριση των μεγάλων περιστατικών.
Οταν μια πυρκαγιά ξεφεύγει από τον έλεγχο, δεν είναι ο έγκαιρος εντοπισμός. Και βλέπω δυστυχώς ότι εστιάζουμε περισσότερο στον έγκαιρο εντοπισμό στα drones, στις μικρο δορυφόρους, τις κάμερες, ενώ θα πρέπει να κάνουμε παράλληλα και πράγματα στο
- να διαχειριζόμαστε καλύτερα τα μεγάλα περιστατικά,
- να εκπαιδεύσουμε καλύτερα το προσωπικό,
- να φτιαχτεί το σύστημα διοίκησης περιστατικών,
- να γίνεται καλύτερος συντονισμός με τους φορείς,
- να λαμβάνονται καλύτερες αποφάσεις στο πεδίο με βάση τις μετεωρολογικές συνθήκες,
- να μπουν και άλλοι επιστήμονες μέσα και
- να μπορούν να συμβουλεύουν τους ανθρώπους στο πεδίο, τους επιχειρησιακούς.
Άρα πρέπει να δουλέψουμε περισσότερο στο πώς διαχειριζόμαστε μεγάλα περιστατικά», στα οποία για μια ακόμη φορά αποτύχαμε παταγωδώς.
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