Climate change have made the fires more frequent and devastating in Greece. Authorities prepare for summer with more human resources and air, namely drones with thermal chambers to detect fires early.
Firefighters, rescue teams and the army participated last week in a large -scale firefighting exercise to face forest fires. One of the occurred near a summer camp – a family scenario in Greece, where They have made the fires more frequent and devastating.
With Greece starting the fires time, one of the exercise took place near the coastal city of Lavio, about 70 kilometers south of the capitaland others occurred simultaneously elsewhere in various areas of the country.
Fire truck trucks rode to the site and aircraft launched water on simulated flames. The authorities described the Meteorological conditions of exercise as “realistic”: intense heat and strong wind after weeks of drought.
In recent years, the with Athens being covered by a smoke mantle and the authorities removed thousands of people from zones at risk.
Greece, whose Mediterranean climate makes it more vulnerable to climate change, last year registered the hottest summer ever, as well as prolonged periods of drought that caused water shortages and harvest damage. This month of June it is expected to be warmer than usual throughout southern Europe.
O Government of Athens plans to highlight this year a record number of firefighters – About 18,000, compared to 15,500 in 2022 – and will invest about 2 billion euros in new aircraft. It will also use almost twice the drones with thermal chambers to detect early fires.
According to the Fire Department, There were 9,777 forest fires throughout Greece last year, an increase over the 8,257 registered in 2023.
