Woods are unprotected from fires

An outdated car fleet, lack of human recourses, limited flying machines. The firefighting department seems unprepared to manage the fires, that are occuring in different spots in the country. The economic crisis, the delay and the political uninterested behavior have created a potentially explosive mixture, which is expected to cause a lot of problems in the extinguishing of the fires during the forthcoming difficult summer.

About this problem the new Minister of Public Order and Citizen Protection, Nikos Dendias, informed the Prime Minister, Antonis Samaras. A few days ago, in the Parliament, he draw the sad picture of the Firefighting department's state.

Nikos Dendias

«As far as recourses are concerned, we are not in a very good state for the forthcoming summer, and this is only to put it mildly», said Nikos Dendias. «In theory, we have 21 aeroplanes, 3 of which are out of order, i.e. we have 18, but they are not always available».

Indeed, of 21 firefighting aeroplanes, type Canadair, airworthy are just 18. Luckily, there are  18 more, type „Pezetel”, which are spread in Kalamata, Andravida, Lamia, Kefalonia, Agrinio, Tripoli, Corfu and Mytilini, and which often "retrieve" the situation.

Besides, this year 10 helicopters are hired, two less than last year, of which only 5 are in the country and take part in the fires extinguishing. In the meantime, the 5 helicopters, that are property of the firefighting department itself (three ΒΚ-117 and two Super Puma), remain on land and cannot be used because, although the problem with their technical maintenance has been solved, the diplomas of the 11 trained pilots have to be renewed. Their renewal is delayed due to financial problems.

The problem with the flying machines for firefighting is serious but not a single one. «Regarding the on-land resources for fighting wood fires, the biggest problem we are facing is the outdated car fleet. The average age of the firefighting cars exceeds 25 years. Besides this, in the last 6 years, the Firefighting department hasn't bought even a single tyre, which has resulted in the fact that the cars are not effective enough, and the safety of the firemen is to be questioned as well», said the chairman of the The Firefighting department's Union of the Officers, Yanis Stamoulis. In his words, a lot of the firefighting cars are put out of exploitation, while in the same time at least 3 500 tyres are needed.

«The economic crisis has not bypassed the Firefighting department, as this year only, the foreseen resources in the department's budget had decreased by 15%», explains Stamoulis. «Bearing in mind that the reduction in 2011 was to the amount of 30%, this means that for the past two years the Firefighting department's resources have decreased by 45%! Parallel with this, the conditions are becoming more and more difficult, due to the increased value of the old cars' maintenance», emphasized he.

No regular staff appointments from 2008

Another problem for the operative capacity of the Firefighting department is also the significant lack of human resources, as well as the decreased funds to pay the firemen for overtime and night shifts.

According to the syndicalists, there remain 4 215 free positions for regular staff, as there have no appointments been made since 2008.

The manpower of the Firefighting department amounts 14 401 people.

Of them, 8 495 people are regular staff. 4 000 firemen are employed as personnel of the Firefighting department with a 5-years work contract.

According to sources, 600 of them are undertrained. Also, there have been appointed, although with a delay, 1 906 seasonal firefighters with temporary contracts.

Delay

The delay in taking decisions, which has always been a serious problem for the Firefighting department, increased this year, due to the events on the political scene.

The elections also slowed up the competitions, which had already begun, as well as the rest of the questions related to the fire safety, for example prevention.

«The biggest problem for us is that the staff is scattered, as we have been afraid for a long time and have warned. Only the regular staff is at disposal of the Firefighting department all the time. The firemen, who are on a 5-years contract work only of there are approved resources for their payment, and the regular ones work on a 5-days working week, without the weekends and the bank holidays, since there is no money. As a result, when a fire bursts out, the chief looks around to see who is available to go to extinguish the fire!!», explains  Stamoulis.