According to the latest update from the Forest Department, the fire burned not 20 hectares as initially estimated, but 120 hectares of pine trees, olive groves, shrubs and wild grass. Damage to crops in the area was also not avoided, though its extent has not yet been assessed.
Philenews walked through the burned land and captured images of the fire, which started at the Kalo Chorio firing range when a decision was made to destroy rockets.
Every hilltop behind Agia Anna has been burned, leaving only the wind turbines standing. Many isolated homes were endangered, while no one wants to think about what would have happened had the fire reached Psevdas and Pyrga, where the state forest is located.
Agia Anna community leader Anastasis Georgiou again conveyed residents’ anger today, saying steps would be taken for the communities to renew their request for the Kalo Chorio firing range to be relocated. Asked about it, he said he stood by yesterday’s statements, in which he called on the Police Chief to arrest the Defence Minister.
“We insist because we know who the arsonists are. If he didn’t know how this exercise would be carried out, then I’m very sorry. Someone gives the orders. If it isn’t the minister, it’s the President of the Republic.
“No one goes and does these things on their own in these temperatures, when we’re sent a red alert every day telling us to be careful. What do you do, Ministry, do you start the fires yourselves?” he said, among other things, denying that firebreaks in the area had been cleared, despite letters having been sent to all the relevant services a month and a half earlier.
