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Wildfires: environmental and social entanglements
Wildfires: environmental and social entanglements

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4.1 Greece’s preparedness for future wildfires

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Figure 13: Burned area in Kassandra Peninsula, northern Greece, after the 2007 wildfires
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Colour photograph of three parallel, tree-covered hills. The hillsides appear brown and burnt. Most of the trees are black and charred. A few trees in the foreground are greenish brown and have retained small amounts of green, or perhaps this is regrowth.

Figure 13: Burned area in Kassandra Peninsula, northern Greece, after the 2007 wildfires

In response to the 2007 wildfires, Greece has taken steps to be better prepared for future wildfire threats. However, there are disagreements about the effectiveness of these measures. Some argue that the emphasis should be placed on preventing wildfires. Others think it is best to ensure that there are robust systems for responding to wildfires. The following videos are interviews with stakeholders in these debates. The first interview is with Dr Gavriil Xanthopoulos, from the Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems in Athens. The second interview is with George Konstantakoplous, Fire Officer of the Pyrgos Fire Service.

Activity 5

Timing: 60 minutes

As you watch these two videos reflect on the following questions. You may find it useful to watch each video more than once.

  • How prepared is Greece now for the hazard of wildfires?
  • What has been learned about how the fires were caused in 2007 and how effective the response was?
  • If there were shortcomings with the response to the 2007 wildfires, what was behind these and what action has been taken to overcome them since? 
  • To what extent do Dr Gavriil Xanthopoulous and George Kontantakoplous agree in their discussion of these issues? Why might they have different perspectives?
Download this video clip.Video player: Video 2: Dr Gavrill Xanthopoulos, Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems, Athens
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Transcript: Video 2: Dr Gavrill Xanthopoulos, Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems, Athens

INTERVIEWER
In the time that you've been involved, what kind of changes have you seen?
GAVRIIL XANTHOPOULOS
I would say because I have also an experience about most of the Mediterranean countries, prevention is the victim of suppression. Meaning that in general, prevention is something that you don't see the results. Actually, you see no results because you have no fires, and you tend to forget about it.
So there is very little effort and time and money devoted to prevention compared to suppression. Whereas studies have shown, both in Europe and in the United States and in other parts of the world, that roughly $1 or 1 euros spent on prevention saves you roughly 30 plus/minus euros in suppression costs and recovery costs. So it would make sense for any rational approach to move towards prevention. And this is not the case.
Everything is done centred around suppression. That's more obvious to the people, to the politicians. They want to see airplanes, helicopters. And the more technologies we involve in this, we are thinking we are doing a better job, which is not the case. And the disasters we have been facing in Greece and in the rest of Europe exactly signify this problem.
The problem has changed. That is whereas we had more small fires in the past, we are getting in a situation now where because of very strong suppression, we are having fewer fires in easy years. But then we have a sudden blow up when the conditions are such that exceed the capacity of firefighting. And this will happen again and again because the landscapes have become very flammable in the last few years because of the continuous land abandonment that has been taking place. And that's all over Greece and all over the Mediterranean.
If we look, for example, in the 1970s, up to the 1970s, the Forest Service, which was responsible at that time for firefighting, for the whole forest management and fire management and firefighting specifically, these people did not have fire trucks, no question about aerial resources. And still they were able to fight the fires with a few forest guards, some help from the urban fire stations, when it was available and when they could reach the place, very few roads, very few tracks, but mostly with agricultural people who'd go there to save their own property. They did not expect help from anybody.
Then in 1970, they bought the first fire trucks. And they had to employ people to run those fire trucks. And then the public refrained a little bit. OK, now we have professionals doing it. And then we had airplanes. And then even the professional would say, OK, the planes will come. And that's how it worked through the '70s and '80s. And this will happen everywhere, where there is no understanding of the role that fires play in the natural ecosystems of the Mediterranean.
INTERVIEWER
How would you describe the current state of preparedness?
GAVRIIL XANTHOPOULOS
It can happen again. And there is not much we have done in terms of improving the overall management of our land. There is one thing that we are changing lately, which has to do with trying to develop forest maps, which we did not have until now.
We're going to have a [INAUDIBLE] as any normal country should do, and which traditionally has not been, except for some parts of Greece. It has not been all over Greece. And this comes because of the way Greece was liberated in various waves, and they have different ownership patterns and legislatures. But it's time that we solve this problem now. And we hope it will be making our management of the forest and of the land in general better in the future.
INTERVIEWER
Do you think that at the moment, the right people are being given the right responsibilities for this?
GAVRIIL XANTHOPOULOS
My feeling is that having an organisation like the Greek Fire Service, saying that we are responsible for forest fire fighting and leaving everybody else actually outside the decision making, they want them like not equal partners, but like an inferior helper somewhere, is wrong policy. In my view, in modern times, with the capacities that we have of intercommunicating, of understanding, of common training, we could do much better. That is I don't think we should spare anybody out of the problem because it is not possible that you have a forester there waiting and the Fire Service doing the job and them being outside.
Two reasons, first of all, because if he is not involved, we are losing manpower and capacity and knowledge. And second, because that's how the experience has been lost. If nowadays we said to the Forest Service, take the responsibility again, it will not be the same as it was in 1998 because that experience has been lost.
Forest fires have to do with training and with experience and, of course, with some preparation on all the infrastructure that is needed. So I don't want a system that is either/or. I want a system where everybody contributes.
The United States have made inroads in this direction with a National Incident Management System. Formally, it started from the forest fire field, as the national inter-agencies that manage the system. And now it has been applied all over the United States for any kind of disaster, where everybody works together under one, let's say, leadership that has prescribed how this will happen, common terminology, common knowledge, common training, and so on.
End transcript: Video 2: Dr Gavrill Xanthopoulos, Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems, Athens
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Video 2: Dr Gavrill Xanthopoulos, Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems, Athens
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Download this video clip.Video player: Video 3: George Konstantakoplous, Fire Officer, Pyrgos Fire Service
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Transcript: Video 3: George Konstantakoplous, Fire Officer, Pyrgos Fire Service

INTERVIEWER
Can you tell me what lessons have been learned from 2007. And how has it affected what you do today?

[TEXT ON THE SCREEN: GEORGE KONSTANTAKOPOULOS, Fire Officer, Pyrgos Fire Service]

GEORGE KONSTANTAKOPOULOS: [SUBTITLES: Certainly 2007 was a difficult year. Of course the experience we gained was huge, as far as dealing with such huge events. Disasters as large as these are hard to deal with and we gained experience through all the tragic things that happened. Of course we realised other things as well, regarding prevention for example, that we should also pay more attention to prevention. We need to keep the forest roads clear, and realise that individual citizens and state services must all help to ensure that the fires don't get out of control. Everyone must do what they can, to clear their yards, their houses and their fields. Also since 2007 we've seen a greater sense of civic responsibility from local people. We have more teams of volunteers now, people who want to help, who come and offer their help. I believe there is also better coordination between the various services. We realised that big fires need the efforts of all of us and we must be well informed and well trained in order to be more successful.]

INTERVIEWER
Can you tell me what changes there have been in terms of firefighting practice and equipment resources and policy.

GEORGE KONSTANTAKOPOULOS: [SUBTITLES: I'll tell you about something very recent. This year we started a programme which allows us to monitor every firefighting vehicle which takes part in a firefighting operation. We can now follow their positions through GPS, and receive information as to what condition they are in, if they have water, if they are working efficiently. It's a new addition to our efforts to suppress fires. We also have drones. This year in our area we did not have their help, but in Attiki they were valuable for surveillance and also coordination. When you have a picture from above you can see a great deal more. You can see behind the hill, what is at risk from the fire.

What else can we say has changed? Certainly there is better coordination between the services that work to suppress fires. A large fire can't be put out by just one service. We need the assistance of the Forestry, the armed forces, the municipalities and the regional self-government. Meetings of the Municipalities Local Coordinating Body or the Regional Civil Protection Coordinating Body take place more regularly and there we look at the problems and try to come up with solutions.]

INTERVIEWER
How confident are you that if there were another fire next summer, that you would be able to deal with it more successfully perhaps, than you were able to do so in 2007?

GEORGE KONSTANTAKOPOULOS: [SUBTITLES: Fires are affected by many variables, we try each year to improve ourselves, through experience and the use of technology, so that we may have better results. This year for example was a very difficult year. We had a long summer drought for over four months. I believe we did well, there was coordination of the services, we of course are the main axis, we are responsible for coordinating everyone and we will keep trying to improve ourselves. Fires are a dynamic phenomenon that appear not just in our country. They can be very dangerous, with many parameters. We will always try to improve ourselves and I hope that we can deal with another such fire.]

End transcript: Video 3: George Konstantakoplous, Fire Officer, Pyrgos Fire Service
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Comment

Your answers may have included some of the following points:

Dr Gavriil Xanthopoulous emphasises the importance of prevention over suppression. He acknowledges that the suppression of wildfires has a role to play. However, he emphasises how maintaining forests and agricultural land is a more effective way of preventing large scale wildfires. Dr Gavriil Xanthopoulous thinks that Greece is not sufficiently prepared for future wildfires and that a situation like the 2007 wildfires could easily happen again. He argues that not enough time or resources are being invested in improving the management of the environment and that too much power has been given to the Fire Service in the process of preventing and responding to wildfires. He does identify that new forest maps as a step towards improving forest management, but this alone is not sufficient to prevent more fires like those in 2007. Finally, Dr Gavriil Xanthopoulous identifies the USA National Incident Management System as a good example of how different services can work together to prepare for and respond to environmental challenges.

George Kontantakoplous is more positive about Greek’s preparedness for future fires. He thinks that prevention and suppression are both important in the fight against wildfire. However, as a member of the fire service, he is primarily responsible for improving suppression techniques. He argues that as a result of the 2007 wildfires, lessons have been learnt about the importance of prevention, including effectively educating communities about their civil responsibilities. He also identifies that in response to the 2007 wildfires, the fire service has improved its co-ordination and training methods and has recruited more volunteers. George Kontantakoplous discusses several changes that have been made to fire-fighting practices since the 2007 wildfires. These include a new system for monitoring firefighting vehicles, the use of drones, and finding ways to work across services.

Dr Gavriil Xanthopoulous and George Kontantakoplous have different opinions on the extent to which prevention or suppression should be the focus of steps to prepare for the environmental challenge of future wildfires. However, they also agree about the importance of combining prevention and suppression techniques.