Greek Government Under Attack

Some Optimism on Day Five of Deadly Fires

Opposition polticians in Athens have demanded that the government resign as fires continue to rage for a fifth day. But firefighting officials have expressed hope that the situation will soon improve.

Huge fires are still scorching vast swaths of the Greek countryside, but according to officials, the danger to life and property in many areas of the country has receded on Tuesday. With firefighters and equipment from around Europe now entering the battle against the raging blazes, the disaster -- which has seen scores of villages turned to ash and at least 64 deaths in the last five days -- may soon be brought under control.

Still, continued high winds and hot weather mean the fire danger is still extreme and 56 fires broke out in Greece from Monday morning to Tuesday morning. In addition to the Peloponnes Peninsula in southern Greece, fire likewise continues to ravage the island of Evia, north of Athens. Officials said they were battling flames on at least 25 fronts on Tuesday with villagers once again having to evacuate homes and land to escape the blazes.

Overworked and exhausted Greek firefighters have been joined on Tuesday by personnel and equipment sent in by 17 European countries. Many of the newcomers were immediately thrown into action, with a group of 55 Israeli firefighters already helping out with the gigantic fire that on Sunday almost destroyed the archaeological site at Ancient Olympia. A team of Cypriot firefighters was likewise in the area making fire break corridors in the mountains above the site. Firefighting aircraft from other countries including Germany and France have likewise been thrown into the battle.

"The picture we have gives us some optimism," said fire department spokesman Nikos Diamandis. "We have a good picture and hope for some good results."

AFP

The midday sun is barely visible behind the smoke near the Peloponnese village of Andritsena on Monday.

The cautious optimism comes after a dramatic day of helicopter rescues as people became surrounded by flames in a number of villages in southern Greece. Five people were lifted to safety from a small town called Prasidaki in southern Greece while a helicopter was also sent to the village of Frixa, where residents were engaged in a desperate battle against the flames, but the villagers refused to leave.

But with the firefighters slowly making headway against the scores of blazes that have sprung up across Greece since last Friday, the pressure continues to grow on the government of Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis. On Monday evening in Athens, some 2,000 demonstrators took to the streets demanding his resignation and accusing his government of having been completely unprepared for the fires.

"This government was proven to be totally incompetent, unable to handle the fire crisis, like all the other crises it encountered in its four-year administration," said socialist opposition leader George Papandreou.

Prior to the fires, Karamanlis' government -- which faces snap general elections scheduled for September 16 -- had a slim lead over the socialists in opinion polls. But outrage over the severity of the blazes may torpedo his hope of being re-elected. On Monday, the prime minister said he was budgeting more that €200 million for immediate aid to families, towns and businesses affected by the fires in the last few days.

The government has also stepped up its investigation into the possible causes of the blazes, and has repeatedly indicated that it suspects many fires of having been set deliberately. On Monday, a senior prosecutor ordered an investigation to see if terrorism laws could be used to prosecute those accused of having set the fires. And Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras said that the Secret Service and anti-terrorism officers had joined the search for perpetrators. Some 11 people have been arrested on suspicion of setting fires since Friday, including an elderly man brought in on suspicion of having set a fire that led to six deaths in the Peloponnese.

Many, though, are unconvinced that the fires -- the worst in living memory in Greece -- are part of an orchestrated arson attack. Land zoning laws in Greece make it very difficult to change land use, but a lack of official maps designating forest land provide an incentive to developers to burn down forests and then claim the land for development afterward. Widespread corruption also means that buildings constructed on land that was once covered by forest will, with the help of a few bribes, eventually be legalized.

The government on Monday announced a reward of up to €1 million ($1.36 million) for information leading to the arrest of anyone who deliberately set a fire.

The sheer devastation of the fires has led the European Commission to announce that it will propose setting up an EU disaster response task force to help out in the case of fires, floods and other natural disasters in Europe. "The costs of not doing enough in a coordinated way far outweigh the costs of doing it … in a coordinated, better way," Barbara Helfferich, spokesperson for the environment commissioner, told the BBC.

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