Greece's Poor Precautions to Blame for Fires in Rhodes

ATHENS (Reuters) - Greece's failure to improve its fire fighting system after deadly blazes last year was to blame for fires that raged for days in July on the island of Rhodes, environmentalists said on Wednesday.

(Pictured at right: A dead goat lies amid charred trees after a forest fire at Laerma village in the southern part of Rhodes island July 27, 2008.)

The fires, which burned for seven days, destroyed 11,000 hectares of farmland and pristine pine forests on the Aegean holiday island despite the efforts of hundreds of fire fighters and volunteers.

The blaze forced the evacuation of scores of villagers and visitors during the high season for tourism and devastated woodlands that are home to wild fallow deer.

"Rhodes paid the price this year for the insufficiency of the country's fire protection system," the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF) said in a report.

A spokesman for the Greek fire brigade, however, said weather conditions had made it difficult to contain the blaze despite the best efforts of the authorities.

"It was a very difficult fire," Giannis Kapakis, Greek fire brigade spokesman, told Reuters. "More than 12 aircraft and hundreds of firemen and volunteers battled to put the fire out."

WWF said the fire on Rhodes had burned areas that had already been torched during the last 20 years.

"This means burned young fir and pine forests will need even more years to grow back and fallow deer may risk their lives seeking food closer to people and farms," said Nikos Georgiadis, a forest expert at the Greek branch of WWF.

The branch warned in May that the country was not ready to deal with another forest fire season after enduring a state of emergency in 2007 during a 10-day inferno that killed 65 people.

The Fund had called for the creation of a specialist unit within the fire brigade, more staff, improved training and more funds for fire prevention.

Georgiadis said the local eco-system would recover if left alone but one third of the forests would need to be replanted.

(Reporting by Renee Maltezou; editing by Daniel Flynn and Tim Pearce)
Link to original article.

Fires in Greece Could Take Decades to Recover

Hope Hamashige
for National Geographic News

It will take years for Greece to recover from this summer's record wildfire season—and it may not happen at all if officials don't take steps to protect burnt lands during the renewal process—warns the Greek chapter of the international conservation nonprofit WWF.

The group recently released an assessment detailing how years of poor forest management combined with high temperatures and dry weather and created this year's unprecedented tinderbox situation, which killed at least 67 people.

More than 670,000 acres (270,000 hectares) of farmland, homes, and protected forests were charred over the summer, the European Forest Fire Information System reports.

That's twice the amount of land that was scorched in the previous record year, 2000. (See a picture of the wildfires threatening the site of the ancient Olympics.)

"The amount of land burned is about 5 percent of the whole country," said Constantinos Liarikos, conservation nager with the WWF in Athens. "It was huge."
Photo By: ©2008 Jordan Kevrekidis



WWF says that the Greek government, which has a reputation for lax protection practices, must follow through on promises to replant devastated areas and keep lands free of development and livestock—or risk losing the forests forever.

Decades of Recovery

Some swaths of Greek forest, like parts of the U.S. West, are fire-dependent and will regenerate quickly, Liarikos said.

Evergreen strawberry trees, along with mastic and other common shrubs, resprout following fire. These lowland plants may start regeneration within two to three years.

And short-statured Aleppo pines release their seeds when they are exposed to fire.

But much of the damaged land will need far longer to recover.

One unusual feature of the fires this year, Liarikos said, is that they reached unusually high elevations—up to 4,900 feet (1,500 meters).

Upland forests in Greece are not accustomed to fire and could take 50 years or longer to renew, Liarikos pointed out.

Gavriil Xanthopoulos, a forest-fire researcher at the Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems and Forest Products Technology in Athens, agreed.

"This is not typical Mediterranean forest, and it is not easy to regenerate," Xanthopoulos said.

Grecian firs, for example, are common in higher elevations but need a different tree species to thrive and provide shade before the firs will come back, he said.

It will likely be necessary to replant the firs, along with Austrian pines, at higher elevations because they are too slow-growing, he added.

One place this is critically important, according to Xanthopoulos, is Mount Parnis National Park near Athens, which lost two-thirds of its trees.

"This forest has been contributing greatly to the climate of Athens, smoothing high-temperature peaks, acting as a filter of pollution, and being a source of oxygen," he said.

It may be impossible to restore the acres of olive groves grown for agricultural purposes on the Peloponnese Peninsula, he added. Many groves contained trees that were more than a hundred years old.



The flames also hit seven Natura 2000 sites, burning 74,000 acres (30,000 hectares). This included the lands surrounding Lake Kaiafa, where most of the human fire fatalities lived.

Natura 2000 is a network of protected areas aimed at halting the loss of biodiversity in Europe.

The burned areas include habitats for several animal species, including the endangered golden jackal and red deer and several lizard and turtle species. WWF said it is too soon to know if the animal populations will suffer from the loss of habitat.
Call for Action

Environmentalists and academics warn that Greek forests face additional hazards unless the government acts quickly and decisively.

Without plants to anchor the soil, for instance, burn zones are ripe for heavy erosion, flooding, and landslides if heavy rains douse the areas in the next few years. This is particularly true in the higher elevation burn zones.

Xanthopoulos said it is critical that livestock is kept off the charred areas during the renewal process.

"If livestock is introduced in these sites, they can really destroy natural regeneration to the point of changing the vegetation type," Xanthopoulos said.

The best way to do this is to subsidize feed for shepherds, he added.

Precisely how Greek authorities plan to manage the deforested lands remains to be seen.

The government has announced plans to replant in the burn zones.

But environmental groups like WWF are skeptical.

Based on the fact that towns have sprung up amidst the ashes of forests burned in the past, Liarikos said, there is good reason for the pessimism. (Related: "Wildfire-Ravaged Forests Hurt by Post-Blaze Logging, Study Says" [January 5, 2006].)

"That is the usual rhetoric in the country, and it almost never happens," said Liarikos, adding that Greek law does not prevent development even in protected forests.

"Fire always forces land-use changes," he said. "After every fire, a certain part of burned areas are always developed."

Arson has even been used in the past in Greece to force land-use changes.

In an effort to prevent total destruction of these wild places, WWF Greece has formed a legal team of "environmental advocates" to monitor possible land encroachment cases.

"The future of these areas presents a major challenge for us all," said Demetres Karavellas, CEO of WWF Greece. "Negative land-use changes and ill-conceived rehabilitation could mean total destruction for these sites."

WWF in despair over Greek fire damage

· Rare species of animals and plants lost in flames
· Anger rises as developers move in on stricken areas

Helena Smith in Athens
Friday September 28, 2007
The Guardian


A burnt-out fire truck and cars in village of Artemida in southern Greece. Photograph: Louisa Gouliamaki/AFP/Getty images

Two percent of the surface area of Greece was destroyed by forest fires this summer, including some of Europe's lushest nature reserves. The extent of the damage wrought by the infernos is much larger than initially thought, with rare species of reptiles, mammals and endemic plants being lost, according to the conservation group WWF.

"The destruction by far exceeds our expectations, and is more dramatic and extensive than we imagined," Dimitris Karavellas, who heads the WWF in Greece, said. "These fires were not only the worst on record, they ravaged everything. Very few patches of life, patches that are now refuges for various animal species, were left behind," he said.

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Aided by satellite maps, environmentalists have established that in six weeks the flames consumed roughly one-tenth of the country's forests, with large swaths of land inside EU-protected areas also being burned. Among the designated areas was Mount Taygetos, one of Greece's most spectacular nature reserves, which had just begun to recover from devastating blazes in 1998.

The destruction - exacerbated by the hottest summer in 50 years - will doubtless worsen if a winter of heavy rainfall follows, Mr Karavellas said.

The group's grim assessment came a month after fires erupted in the southern Peloponnese, killing 67 men, women and children, many of whom were burned alive as they tried to flee the flames.

The report's release will put further pressure on the recently re-elected conservative government, the popularity of which was badly hit by accusations of ineptitude during the conflagrations.

Alongside mounting anger over the scale of the damage, indignation is rising over the rehabilitation methods officials are resorting to in affected areas. "Everyone, it seems, wants to exploit the situation economically," Nikos Bokaris, the president of the Panhellenic Union of Foresters, said in an interview. "I have been to the stricken region and seen with my own eyes that there is absolutely no coordination of relief efforts. The confusion that allowed the fires to rage uncontrollably is now raging uncontrollably in those areas."

Greeks have been incensed by evidence that investors, scenting profit, are moving in to the Peloponnese, one of the last parts of Greece to have escaped mass tourism.

Ecologists point to a deal that paves the way for construction on up to 10 miles of virgin coastline around the southern seaside town of Zacharo. The deal, signed by the former deputy finance minister Petros Doukas and the mayor of Zacharo, Pantazis Chronopoulos, appears to have gone through, despite the region being on a list of protected sites drawn up by the EU.

The approximately 6,000 people who were made homeless by the fires have also been encouraged to ignore otherwise stringent environmental rules when they apply for housing subsidies. In the absence of a land registry and forest maps, Greeks invariably have been able to build with impunity in areas that would normally be protected.

Trail of destruction

· 300,000 hectares were burnt.

· 30,000 hectares of this were within protected areas.

· Seven designated nature reserves were affected.

· 55% of the razed area consisted of forests and other areas of vegetation.

· Habitats of rare species of golden jackals and red deer were among those destroyed.

· The fires caused a severe degradation of soil and water balance, increasing the risk of flooding.

Outrage in Greece over secret plan to develop land in region ravaged by fires

By Elinda Labropoulou in Athens

Published: 19 September 2007

The Greek government is facing a major embarrassment within days of its re-election after it gave property developers the green light to build on an environmentally sensitive area next to forests ravaged by this summer's deadly fires.

Documents leaked to the Greek press show the finance ministry pushed through an agreement allowing building activity to begin in a protected area in the Southern Peloponnese, the region hardest hit by last month's blazes that killed 67 people and destroyed nearly half a million acres of forest and farmland.

Under heavy criticism for their handling of the inferno, the ruling conservatives blamed the inferno on unscrupulous property developers looking to exploit protected areas. Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis vowed to avoid past mistakes where building permits were handed out in fire-affected areas and land was rezoned for construction.

The agreement, revealed this week, covers a valuable coastal zone in Zaharo, the area that accounted for nearly half of the deaths during last month's "national emergency".

The zone includes a rare pine forest, thermal springs, and a nesting area for the endangered loggerhead turtle Caretta-Caretta. Environmental groups say the agreement could come at a huge cost for the area's sensitive ecosystem. The district is protected by the European Union's Natura 2000 scheme, designed to safeguard the most seriously threatened habitats and species.

Greek MEP Dimitris Papadimoulis said the plans could also endanger ¿600m (£410m) in EU funding for fire-stricken areas. "What happened is a crime against nature, committed in order to buy last minute votes prior to the elections," he said.

Mr Papadimoulis has already raised the issue with Athens and Brussels.

"I put a question forward to see whether it violates EU legislation but also whether it could threaten the receipt of EU funding for the fire-stricken areas."

The Greek government has yet to respond.

Dimitris Karavellas, director of WWF Greece, said the continued absence of a proper land registry was at the root of the present crisis. "We are the only country in the EU that doesn't have a land registry," he said. "We get situations where there are forest fires one year and nothing but houses a couple of years later."

The Zaharo deal, if confirmed, would take place in two stages. Firstly, it would legalise nearly 800 buildings that have been illegally constructed in the area over the past 50 years. In the second stage it would permit the construction of hotels, restaurants and recreational facilities. Developers would be allowed to use the land for up to 69 years.

Zaharo's mayor, Pandazis Chronopoulos, who signed the agreement with the finance ministry's Public Real Estate Corporation, says that, if it became law, the agreement would generate much needed money for the reconstruction of the fire-ravaged area. "It would help the redevelopment of the area. We need to recreate a tourism infrastructure. We will fully respect the environment. We are thinking of small-scale tourism development. Maybe a children's camp to start with. And all the money the municipality would get will be reinvested in rebuilding Zaharo".

According to the agreement 75 per cent of the income generated would go to the municipality, the remaining 25 to the finance ministry.

Local engineer Kostas Tzamaloukas, said the people are still numb from the catastrophe "At the polling station on Sunday, one third of the people who were in the queue were wearing black, a sign they had lost a loved one in the fires. This is a small community, people are devastated. They would listen to anyone promising them a way out of the financial disaster."

The ruling New Democracy party held on to power this weekend with a reduced majority.

U.S. experts in Greece to assist in fires crisis

A group of six experts in fighting forest fires and dealing with natural disasters from the United States arrived in Greece on Monday to assist Greek authorities in dealing with the fires crisis and its aftermath, the U.S. Embassy announced.

Among them is the US Forest Service's top fire-fighter and disaster-relief specialists from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID).

The U.S. has also shipped another 250,000 dollars in relief supplies to the Greek Red Cross, which brings the total U.S. government assistance to Greece up to 1.5 million dollars to date.

The purpose of the experts' visit, as agreement with the Greek government, is to provide immediate technical assistance and support to Greece's current response to the catastrophic fires, with particular attention to fire management and rehabilitation of burned landscapes, as well as emergency management systems.

The team will visit the areas where Greek fire and recovery operations are currently underway, and observe operations staff at command locations. Based on its findings, the U.S. Forest Service will propose a longer-term capacity building and technical support program to the government of Greece.

U.S. Navy twice assists Greek firefighters

Twice this summer, the Governor's Office of Chania, asked for U.S. Navy assistance to extinguish brush fires in western Crete, on July 30 and August 23. On both occasions, American firefighters successfully battled flames alongside Greek firefighters.

According to a press release issued on Monday by the Public Affairs Section of the U.S. Embassy in Athens, on August 23, around Lakki, Crete, a team of six civilian American firefighters and two U.S. Navy sailors worked with a large number of local Greek fire departments, including a contingent of Hellenic Navy firefighters.

“The fire was approximately 2,000 acres and was threatening to get into the village,” said Todd McKinzie, captain of Souda Bay Emergency Services. In addition to two American emergency vehicles, there were about 30 other fire engines from all over Crete battling the flames around Lakki.

The American civilian and military firefighting team helped contain this brush fire throughout the night, and returned to the U.S. Navy base the next morning. "As firefighters, that's what we're here for,” said McKinzie, “to help prevent loss of life and property.”

Greek diaspora donates 1.2 bln dollars in aid for wildfire-affected regions

The Greek diaspora all over the world have sped to contribute in financial aid to the fire-ravaged regions of Greece.

Through the mobilization of the World Council of Hellenes Abroad (SAE), more than 1,200,000 dollars have been collected, until now, worldwide in support of the fire-affected inhabitants of the Peloponnese and the island of Evia in central Greece.

The Greek Australians donated 755,000 dollars.

Greek Canadians donated 200,000 dollars and the SAE countries of the former Soviet Union 200,000 euros.

Information gathered from:
http://www.hellenicnews.com/...

Fire-damaged Olympia to be reforested

ATHENS (AFP) — The Greek Olympic Committee said Wednesday it had accepted an offer from Israel for experts and 10,000 trees to help repair damage caused by fires on Olympia, the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games.

Greece's President Karolos Papoulias also accepted a proposal from the German city of Munich to reforest the Cronius hill above Olympia which was sacred to ancient Greeks.

Singed by a 12-day fire inferno that killed 65 people around the country, Olympia needs to spruce up ahead of the lighting ceremony of the Olympic flame for the 2008 Games in Beijing.

"(There is) an international effort to restore beauty to the landscape of ancient Olympia ahead of the lighting ceremony in March," the Olympic committee said.

The blaze burned trees behind the Olympia archaeological museum and grass on the slopes of the ancient stadium where thousands attend the lighting ceremony of the torch for the Summer and Winter Games.

Extensive damage was also caused to the Olympic Academy grove where the heart of Pierre de Coubertin, the founder of the modern Olympics, is buried.

Olympia is a UNESCO world heritage site and the birthplace of the ancient Olympic Games, first recorded to have been held here in 776 BC until 393 AD.

The local archaeological site still contains the remains of the stadium, temples, administrative buildings and training halls.

Signifying the spiritual moment of the Games' launch, the Olympic flame has been an integral part of the competition since 1928, and the ceremony conducted every two years in Olympia by young women dressed as ancient Greek priestesses is an eagerly-anticipated element of every Olympics.

After battling to extinguish the worst wildfires on record, Greek officials are battling to light a new fire, the Olympic flame that will be carried from the birthplace of the ancient games to Beijing for next year’s Olympics.

Land policy responsible for fires in Greece

The Guardian 5 September, 2007

The devastating bush fires in Greece have already claimed 63 lives and destroyed many homes and other property. The Greek Government is coming in for strident criticism and large demonstrations have been held across Greece in angry protests. Fire-fighting equipment was dangerously inadequate and the land policies of the governments of both major Greek political parties contributed to the disaster.

In a strong statement the General Secretary of the Communist Party of Greece, Aleka Papariga called on the people to contribute to the task of combatting the fires sweeping the country, and repeated that its members and organisations were completely at the disposal of the local authorities, agencies and officials, to participate in the fire-fighting efforts, support the inhabitants and contribute to any problems they can.

Regarding the cause of the fires, Aleka Papariga said that these had not arisen suddenly but were created over many years by a series of reactionary laws and measures taken by the successive governments of the ruling New Democracy and main opposition PASOK parties. She said that since 1991, only one-eleventh of burned forests were reforested in Attica and one-ninth in Greece.

Aleka Papariga said that the road to the present inferno was opened by a policy that commercialised land and forests, rewarded land grabbers, undermined prevention and created a huge deficits in equipment, infrastructure and facilities for fire-fighting and forest protection services. Even the country’s Constitution had been revised regarding the protection of forests.

"We are faced with an organised plan", she noted and added that the profits from arsons primarily benefited large economic interests whose "appetite is opened by land commercialisation and privatisation".

Government responsibility

According to the Communist Party statement the government bears huge responsibilities for failing to put up an effective, organised response that might have mitigated the repercussions of the disaster, through prevention and forest protection measures.

Aleka Papariga also said that the social democratic party PASOK seeks only to cover up its own responsibilities and to benefit from the justified popular unrest at the polls.

Aleka Papariga called for:

a full and in-depth listing of the destruction wrought and the areas burnt without any changes in land use

full compensation to farmers for lost crops and livestock

one year’s exemption from insurance contributions and taxes and a freeze on loan payments

full compensation for burnt homes and farm infrastructure, detailed and binding plans for reforestation

free housing for fire victims in nearby hotels

immediate hiring for vacant positions in the fire brigade, forestry services and national health service with permanent rather than seasonal staff, and

work to limit subsequent damage from erosion, flooding etc.

She also demanded that the big private properties on mountains and in forests be turned into public property.

Information gathered from:
http://www.cpa.org.au/garc...