“We already have 1,070 new hires in the Fire Service for the coming year.” With this clear message, the Minister for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Mr. Giannis Kefalogiannis, speaking on SKAI’s show “Atairiastoi”, placed strengthening human resources and upgrading the Fire Service at the top of his agenda.

He reminded that “this year, we operated with the historically highest number of firefighters—both permanent and seasonal—totaling 18,000 personnel.”
Regarding institutional support for seasonal firefighters, he clarified:
“Let me point out—we’re talking about the seasonal firefighters who, for the first time this year, moved from six-month to eight-month contracts for five years. In other words, their contract will now last eight months for the next five years.”

He also emphasized leveraging their experience in permanent recruitment processes:
“These seasonal firefighters, whether we’re talking about EMODE (the Special Forestry Firefighting Units) or PETH (Firefighters under Term Service), receive increased scoring in the recruitment process. This is precisely because we want to attract their experience into the permanent force.”
He added regarding EMODE’s composition:
“For example, in EMODE, 90% of the personnel come from the seasonal ranks.”

The Minister went on to place this year’s wildfire season and its outcomes in a European context, highlighting comparative data and operational challenges.
“This year in Europe, wildfire destruction was three times higher than the 20-year average: 10 million hectares compared to about 3 million.”
Despite these extreme conditions, he stressed that “Greece, along with Croatia, is one of the only countries in the EU below the 20-year average. So, this shows that, relatively speaking—and despite a very difficult summer—we performed much better than other countries.”

Mr. Kefalogiannis also pointed out that the fire season is still active and requires continued vigilance until it officially ends:
“Technically, it lasts until the end of October, and it’s important not to forget that. We’ve had wildfire incidents in October in past years, so we need maximum attention until then.”

In closing, the Minister outlined the government’s preparation strategy for the upcoming winter season, focusing on coordination with local governments and clearly defined responsibilities.
“Starting last week, we initiated coordination meetings with all the Regions—initially online—where we provided clear instructions and highlighted priorities. This includes matters such as ensuring all Regions have salt supplies, signing service contracts for snow-clearing equipment, and clarifying responsibilities when a weather event hits.”

He noted that the effort will extend nationwide:
“Yesterday I had the opportunity to visit Lamia for a coordination meeting specific to Central Greece, and by the end of the month, this process will take place across every corner of the country, in every Region. Both I and the Deputy Minister will travel across the entire country.”