Greece has strengthened its firefighting arsenal to deal with the growing heat threat in the country

• The high temperatures have caused Greece’s fire season to start ahead of schedule, with dozens of fires already extinguished.
• To deal with the growing fire threat, Greece is increasing its specialized firefighting units to 1,300 and adopting strategies from the US.
• Crew members are obtained through training cooperation with countries such as France, Spain and the US.

Miles of hills slipped and turned black from forest fire West of Athens, Fire Lieutenant Colonel Ioannis Kolovos prepares his elite fire crew while sitting inside a helicopter.

The 10-man group of the 1st Wildfire Special Operations Unit is equipped with the equipment needed to stop the fire: chainsaws, special rakes, weather gauges, computer tablets and earth-scorching drip torches to burn wildfire barriers in the mountainside.

Fire season in Greece officially begins on May 1, but dozens of fires have been extinguished over the past month after temperatures reached 86 degrees Fahrenheit in late March — well above the previous high recorded in the last decade. It is quite high.

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“It’s actually already started to get hot for us,” Kolovos told The Associated Press during a recent training exercise. “The truth is that the fire season has started ahead of schedule and has been extended over the past five years.”

This year, Greece is doubling the number of firefighters in specialized units to about 1,300, and is adopting the United States’ strategy of trying to extinguish fires with aerial units to create breaks in the expected path of the flames. .

Crew members include forestry experts and firefighters with a variety of skills, many developed in training with colleagues in France, Spain and the United States.

“We can position ourselves in optimal locations that may be difficult to reach on foot and perform various special operations,” said firefighter Dimitris “Jim” Priftis while assisting trainees in an area near the capital devastated by wildfires in the summer of 2023. We can control the fire by using the following methods.”

“The use of water is no longer our main weapon against fire, but it is our tool,” he said. “We are taking a more scientific approach to fires, measuring humidity, wind – it’s a more planned approach.”

Greece’s wildfire response plans overhauled ahead of summer fire season

Mostly funded by the European Union, Greece has launched a $2.3 billion program to improve its disaster response capacity, ordering new water-dropping aircraft, drones, fire trucks, training facilities and a powered by artificial intelligence Sensor network to detect early signs of smoke and flooding.

But the new devices won’t start arriving until 2025. Greek authorities are doubling down on training and new firefighting methods, expecting another tough season this year.

Last year the fires burned an estimated 1,750 square kilometers (675 square miles), including a blaze in northern Greece that was the deadliest ever recorded in the European Union.

Windy and mountainous with inaccessible islands, Greece faces a difficult annual challenge in protecting the many urban settlements that border forested areas at risk of wildfire.

It’s also getting warmer: According to the National Observatory of Athens, which analyzed EU satellite data, last winter was the warmest since modern records began in 1960. The six warmest Greek winters on record have occurred in the last decade.

This comes against the backdrop of the revelation of new data that Europe It is the world’s fastest warming continent, with temperatures rising at almost twice the global average.

Standing at the main disaster response command center in Athens, Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias says officials expect annual conditions to worsen.

“It’s going to be a very tough fire season, a very tough summer,” Kikilias, a legendary former pro basketball player, told the AP in an interview. “We had a dry winter and falling temperatures till December. So we are facing a climate crisis.”

Throughout the month of April, firefighters increased drills and training using new facilities such as the Fire Dragon, a $1.3 million trailer used to simulate the inside of a burning building. Firefighters with heavy protective gear and oxygen tanks use it to practice close-quarters techniques and rescue.

Nearby, regular fire service staff and trainees crawl through a mesh maze in the dark to practice working in confined spaces. In full kit, participants first work out on treadmill climbers and other gym machines, then crawl through a maze as strobe lights, smoke and loud noises are added to disorient them.

“The firefighting maze helps firefighters in the presence of fire, in a dark environment, in an unfamiliar setting, enter the area, investigate, possibly rescue, and find a way out,” said Fire Lt. Col. Vrasidas Grafakos. A training center commander.

“This is to effectively train them to be ready for frontline activity, to burn.”

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Retiree Chrisoula Rainieri was among those who lost their homes in 2023 in wildfires on the island of Rhodes in northeastern Greece and west of Athens.

Raineri visited his burnt home last week. As she walked through blackened rooms, she described how her family felt helpless as flames cut off electricity and water supplies before the house was engulfed in flames. “Nobody helped us and everything burned. Everything was gone.”

He said he hopes the fire service’s new equipment and methods can make a difference to others.

“I wish that had happened, so many homes could have been saved,” he said. “We hope so, because summer is coming again and the suffering will begin.”