On the topic of volunteer firefighters, Giannis Kallianos, following a statement by Sofia Voultepsi. Referring to the major fires raging in Greece, the MP said that a battle must be fought to increase the number of volunteers, with the meteorologist and MP commenting that he disagrees with this view.

“I disagree with the view, which is occasionally expressed in public debate, that catastrophic fires are primarily due to the lack of volunteers and the fact that our country does not have proportionally as many as other countries,” Yannis Kallianos said in a Facebook post.

“In such critical moments, it is good to avoid such discussions and theories, when houses are burned, lives are threatened and property, crops and business premises are destroyed,” he adds.

He goes on to describe seasonal firefighters as “invaluable” and notes that “in these extremely difficult conditions with 100 daily fires in dense forests, it would be invaluable to have more on the front line.”

“As for the volunteers, these people give because they choose to. No law can force them to go into the fire. They are invaluable help, but they are no substitute for state operational dynamics. Now that the state mechanism is really fighting a titanic battle to save what it can, let us all show more empathy and prudence in our words and actions,” Kallianos concludes in his post.

“I think Greece lags behind on the issue of volunteers”

Recall that Sofia Voultepsi said: “I believe that Greece lags behind on the issue of volunteers despite the laws that all governments have made from time to time. Germany has 1,000,000 personnel available for fires. 935,000 are volunteers and 65,000 are permanent staff.”

The EU has made several efforts to provide the best possible solution for the firefighting industry.

“Austria has 345,000 personnel, only 2,500 are permanent,” he explained, then added: “I believe now as the situation is that instead of making laws that say about uniforms, we should fight to increase them because volunteers will help. We see where patrols are being done things are easier.”

When the reporter commented that a state cannot rely on volunteers, Voultepsi retorted by giving America as an example.

“It does rely, in America 75% are volunteers,” she concluded.