“There is no active front but scattered hotspots,” said the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Vassilis Kikilias, on Tuesday morning about the fire in Attica. He emphasized that despite the 5-minute aerial response time and 7 minutes on the ground for the fire in Varnava on Sunday, the extreme conditions made the problem insurmountable.

“In those 40 hours in NE Attica, firefighters and forest commandos fought a superhuman battle. Volunteers, police, military, forest rangers, and regional authorities, with their help, evacuated and saved 45 areas,” added Mr. Kikilias.

“This is the reality: the new operational doctrine with drones and immediate intervention that worked in other fires handled swiftly under difficult conditions, when we face such extreme conditions with a fire danger rating of 5, drought, and inaccessible areas, the problem becomes insurmountable. We are talking about the most difficult and dangerous scenario for firefighters and residents,” stressed Mr. Kikilias.

“The people, the citizens who lived through the real conditions during these hours, know the ordeal they went through, the fear, anger, and sadness. They know that volunteers, the military, and firefighters fought superhumanly to prevent the worst from happening,” the minister added and concluded:

“The firefighters themselves are the ones who operate all summer and extinguish the fires.”