Galery

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Fires in Greece continue, the largest outbreaks being on the islands of Rhodes, Hydra, Zakynthos, and Crete near Chania. A fire in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia has crossed the border and spread to Florina. 30 firemen are trying to extinguish the flames. A large forest fire broke out in the area of ​​Neo Voutza - Attica at about 7 pm on Tuesday and 40 firemen with 19 fire engines and 20 men from the land forces are fighting it. The fire approached the populated areas of Rafina and Pikernios but did not spread to the houses due to the help of volunteers.
 
A state of emergency has been declared on Rhodes after the fire began spreading in forest areas between St. Silas and the Valley of Butterflies. Authorities reported that there had been four attempts for arson in the same area of the island in the past few days. 94 firemen, some of whom from Athens, 33 fire engines, 67 people from the land forces, 3 special planes and a helicopter are fighting the blaze. Strong winds are seriously hampering the efforts to bring the fire under control. More than two thousand hectares of forest area supposedly burned for the time being.

Grass and shrubs on Crete near Chania and around the villages of Lacon, Omalos and Karanos have been set on fire but there is no risk for populated areas. 10 firemen, 2 squads of the land forces and 5 fire engines are on the scene. A fire broke out on the island of Zakynthos near Keri again and 10 firemen with 5 fire engines and 2 fire-fighting planes are fighting it. The fire on the island of Hydra is spreading quickly and 17 firemen are fighting it with three fire engines and two specialized aircraft.

While tens of hundreds of fires rage in the country every day, the Athens prosecutor's office has found violations in the rental of fire planes. According to Greek media, prosecutor Eleni Raykou has launched an investigation against the former leadership of the Ministry of Civil Protection for the lack of transparency and violation of public procurement rules. All the involved officials from Greece and from abroad will have to give explanations. Raykou will seek an answer to the question of what were the criteria for renting seven midsize Ka 32 helicopters, which belong to the company Skylink, by the Minstry of Civil Protection and whether 60 flying hours of a plane are sufficient to meet the needs of the "easily flammable" Greek soil.
  
According to sources from the national fire department, the tender for government procurement for new helicopters caused damage to taxpayers because it has secured machines that do not have the capacity to meet the required standard of work, but cost the state more. The average number of flying hours of a machine in the fire season in Greece is 87, 1 hours. The flying capacity of rented planes, however, is an average of 60 hours. The practice in Greece is to rent planes with the capacity of 90 flying hours each for 90 days. This year, the contract was for seven helicopters with capacity of 60 flying hours for 120 days. The competitive offer of the Greek company that lost the tender in favour of Skylink offered for rent a plane for 1,500 euro per hour if the machines worked longer than agreed. Skylink, on the other hand, wants 4,200 euro per extra hour, zougla.gr revealed. According to sources familiar with the case, the loss to the state due to neglecting the cheaper offer that would have provided the same type of helicopters in excellent condition is 99.5 thousand euro. Furthermore, the company does not have an air operator’s certificate and relevant experience in fire fighting.