ATHENS, GREECE (AP) – Greek fire department officials arrested two men yesterday for allegedly deliberately starting wildfires as hundreds of firefighters battle blazes that have been blamed for 21 deaths.
One man was arrested on Evia for allegedly deliberately setting fire to dried grass in the island’s Karystos area. The fire department said the man confessed to having set four other fires in the area in July and August.
A second man was arrested in the Larissa area in central Greece, also for allegedly deliberately setting fire to dried vegetation. Judicial authorities were informed in both cases.
Officials have said arson has been to blame for several fires in Greece over the past week, although it is still unclear what sparked the country’s largest blazes, including one in the northeastern region of Evros and Alexandroupolis where nearly all the fire-attributed deaths have occurred, and another on the fringes of Athens. “Some arsonists are setting fires, endangering forests, property and above all human lives,” Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said on Thursday.
“What is happening is not just unacceptable but despicable and criminal.”
The minister said nine fires had been set in the space of four hours on Thursday morning in the Avlona area in the northern foothills of Mount Parnitha, a mountain on the northwestern fringes of Athens that is one of the capital’s last green areas.
A major fire was already burning on the southern side of the mountain at the time, and continued burning yesterday.
“You are committing a crime against the country,” Kikilias said. “We will find you. You will be held accountable to justice.” Later that day, police arrested a 45-year-old man on suspicion of arson for allegedly setting at least three fires in the Avlona area.
A search of his home revealed kindling, a fire torch gun and pine needles, police said.
Greece has been plagued by the daily outbreak of dozens of fires over the past week as gale-force winds and hot, dry summer conditions combine to whip up flames and hamper Mfirefighting efforts. On Friday, firefighters were tackling 111 blazes, including 59 that had broken out in the 24 hours between Thursday and Friday evening, the fire department said.
Most are tackled in the early stages, but some have grown to massive blazes that have consumed homes and vast tracts of forest.
Storms were forecast for some areas of Greece yesterday, and there were reports of lightning causing several fires near the Greek capital that were being tackled by firefighters.
