More crews, more drones: Greece launches record-breaking fire operation, expects grueling summer

Описание: (22 May 2025)
RESTRICTION SUMMARY:

ASSOCIATED PRESS
Lavrion, Greece - 22 May 2025
1. Various of fire officers operating drone during major fire prevention exercise
2. Mid of smoke grenades imitating fire during drill
3. Various of vehicle heading to evacuate stranded fire service officer from outpost during drill
4. Various of fire service aircraft dropping water
5. Mid of media
6. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Ioannis Kefalogiannis, Greek Civil Protection Minister:
“We are already in the third week (of the fire season). You understand that the conditions this year will also be particularly difficult. However, we are entering (the period) with good conditions, given that the number this year, in terms of human resources, has increased. 18,000 women and men of the Fire Department, permanent, five-year contract and volunteers, will fall into battle along with approximately 5,000 volunteer firefighters and five-and-a-half thousand civil protection volunteers.”
7. Various of fire service vehicles participating in drill
8. Various of fire service aircraft dropping water
8. Various of fire service helicopter
9. SOUNDBITE (Greek) Lt. Gen.Theodoros Vagias, Greek fire chief:
"We have strengthened the operational mechanism with four new party units of elite firefighters, in Chalkida, Crete, Ilia (prefecture) and Zakynthos, areas hit by fires, while we have increased our air assets, moving the bases so we can be more efficient."
10. Various of fire service helicopter carrying firefighters taking off
STORYLINE:
Greece is deploying a record number of firefighters and nearly doubling its drone fleet this summer to address growing wildfire risks driven by climate change, officials said Thursday.

Civil Protection Minister Ioannis Kefalogiannis said 18,000 permanent and seasonal personnel, supported by thousands of volunteers, would be mobilized as wildfire damage has increased steadily over the past two decades.

“It is clear that the conditions this year will be particularly difficult,” Kefalogiannis told reporters after attending a firefighting exercise south of Athens.

Rising average temperatures and low rainfall have significantly worsened conditions in recent years.

Greek Fire Chief Lt. Gen. Theodoros Vagias told The Associated Press that additional elite firefighting units would be deployed to high-risk areas during the May 1–October 31 fire season.

Wildfire damage surged to more than 1,300 square kilometers (500 square miles) in 2021 and 1,745 square kilometers (675 square miles) in 2023 — roughly three times the 2011–2020 average — according to data from the European Union’s Forest Fire Information System.

Firefighters held an exercise Thursday to test Greece’s evolving wildfire response, which increasingly relies on advanced technologies such as drone surveillance and mobile command centers.

Fire planes skimmed treetops, releasing plumes of water in coordinated low-altitude drops, as commanders on the ground huddled over tablets streaming real-time drone footage.

The coast guard and armed forces took part in a drill simulating the evacuation of a children’s summer camp threatened by fires on multiple fronts.

Officials said the number of firefighting personnel has increased by roughly 20% over the past two years, while the fleet of fire-surveillance drones has grown to 82, up from 45.

Around 300 firefighters from the Czech Republic, France, Romania, Moldova, and Bulgaria are being sent to Greece under a European Union prepositioning program, officials said.

AP video shot by Lefteris Pitarakis

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