Arsonists responsible for devastating fires in Greece, Italy, Turkey - reports

Greek City News
Sat, 07 Aug 2021 12:00 UTC

Greece faced a total 154 fires throughout the country on Friday, Deputy Civil Protection Minister for Crisis Management Nikos Hardalias said last night, with 98 of those being new within the last 24 hours.

Comment: Note this report is from the 7th of August.

At a live briefing, Hardalias said that 64 fires are still burning.

The most important ones, he said, were in Attica, Evia island, Ilia (including in Ancient Olympia), Messinia, Mani (the latter three in the Peloponnese) and Tolofona, Fokida, Fthiotida (all in Central Greece), as well as the island of Crete, and Grevena (Macedonia).

He said all available forces were taking part in efforts, and thanked all firefighters and volunteers working under very difficult and often risky conditions in unprecedented times.

He also expressed his sadness for the volunteer firefighter who lost his life at Ippokratios Politia on Friday.

The minister enumerated the firefighting forces, on the ground and by air, in each of the areas on fire.

He said that in the Varybobi area, where a great fire started on Tuesday and spread from Mt. Parnitha to town in northern Attica as far as Lake Marathon reservoir, a total of 720 firefighters were operating.

These include 40 terrain teams and 215 fire trucks, along with over a dozen airplanes and helicopters, which must stop operations during the night.

The large Beriev water-dropping airplane sent by Russia is operating in Evia, he explained, where fires raced through villages and towns - sometimes several times over the last four days - and where at least 631 people had been evacuated by the time of his public address.

Countries sending firefighters included France, Cyprus, the Ukraine and Romania, while Croatia, Sweden, and Switzerland, as well as France and Cyprus, had or were sending airplanes and Super Puma helicopters.

Arson investigations

Hardalias also said that arson investigators are working with local offices and police in Attica, Tolofon, Evia, Ilia and Messinia.

Comment: Back in 2017, also in August, when fires raged across a number of Green islands, the Justice Minister had this to say:

"It's arson according to an organized plan," Justice Minister Stavros Kontonis, who is the MP for Zakythnos, told state TV when asked to comment on the dozen fires burning on the island. "There is no doubt about it."

So far, three people have been arrested, in Fokida prefecture of Central Greece, Attica and Kalamata.

The Attica suspect was held for intention to set fire and in Kalamata for repeatedly having set fires, with three of them confirmed.

Comment: Voice of America reports:

Arsonists Behind More than Half of Italy's Wildfires, Officials Say

About 800 wildfires have struck Italy this year, tripling the normal annual average and causing millions of dollars in damage. But more than half of them were likely started by arsonists or farmers breaching fire rules, authorities say.

A 50-year-old sheep and goat farmer was arrested last week after a surveillance camera captured him setting undergrowth afire Thursday near the town of Montesarchio, 48 kilometers from Naples in southern Italy, near to where another wildfire raged last year.

© Cronache Nuoresi

General view of a burnt area in the aftermath of a wildfire in Cuglieri, Sardinia, Italy, July 25, 2021, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video.

Local officials say the farmer likely wanted to renew his pasture by burning it off in defiance of strict rules regulating such burns. They say he tried to get rid of his lighter when he spotted Carabinieri officers later heading toward him.

For law enforcement authorities, even more troubling are the arsonists.

Last week, Roberto Cingolani, minister for ecological transition, told parliament that 57.4% of Italy's recent wildfires were caused by arson, and 13.7% the result of unintentional human action.

"More than 70% of the fires in Italy are our responsibility," he said. "Less than 2% are caused naturally, for example, by a lightning strike. For 4.4%, the cause is undetermined, and 22% are unclassifiable situations in which it is difficult to know what triggered the fire," he added.

With the earth being parched, the fires quickly take hold, Italian officials say, noting that climate change has brought unprecedented high temperatures to the country, drying out the land and making it even more combustible.

Note that it's not just high temperatures that create those conditions, it's extreme drought.

Most of the wildfires have been in the southern regions of Lazio, Campania, Puglia, Calabria, Basilicata and Sicily. Blazes have also occurred in the central provinces of Tuscany, Umbria and Abruzzo, where on Sunday vacationers were evacuated after a wildfire tore through a pine wood near the coastal city of Pescara.

Wildfires on the island of Sardinia have been described by the local media as "apocalyptic," and by the end of the month will likely have caused more economic damage than the costs from blazes in 1983 and 1994. Sardinia has declared an official "state of calamity" and called for more central government assistance.

© Cronache Nuoresi

General view of a burnt area in the aftermath of a wildfire in Cuglieri, Sardinia, Italy, July 25, 2021, in this screen grab obtained from a social media video.

According to Coldiretti, the country's main agricultural association, the extreme heat and a lack of rainfall are causing a "worrying drought that is decimating crops but also favors the spread of fires and the action of arsonists."

The association said in a statement that the economic cost was incalculable from the fires, which have "destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of woods and Mediterranean scrub with charred trees, olive groves, destroyed pastures and led to a real slaughter of animals."

Coldiretti also said it believes that 60% of the fires are lit by arsonists, some with mafia ties, in disputes over land or in a bid to force farmers to sell to make way for industrial development.

"Arsonists are devastating the Apulian countryside," Coldiretti President Savino Muraglia said.

A pair of arsonists were arrested last week in Troina in central Sicily, where solar power plants are being built.

"We must pay close attention to the hypothesis that solar interests want to undermine farmers," Troina Mayor Fabio Venezia told La Repubblica newspaper.

Arson investigations have also begun in Lazio, Calabria and Sicily, where Claudio Fava, head of the regional anti-mafia commission, said at a recent hearing, "We must take note that in Sicily, it is not barbecues and brushwood causing these fires."

Fava said 98% of the island's fires are being caused by "willful misconduct."

Other fires are thought to be started because of personal disputes and grudges. In Puglia, a young farmer near Lecce appeared to have fallen afoul of some of his neighbors in June. A fire burned much of his land, tools and irrigation system.

The News 24 reports:

Militant Kurdish group takes responsibility for forest fires in Turkey

The radical initiative "Children of Fire", which allegedly works with the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has committed itself to the forest fires in Turkey. Its statement said the group had launched a "fire rebellion" against the Turkish government.

The radical Kurdish initiative "Children of Fire", which is allegedly close to the Kurdistan Workers' Party (PKK), has taken responsibility for the devastating forest fires in southern Turkey.

The PKK has ties with Western governments.

In the one from the Kurdish portal Young News The group's published statement states that the reason for the arson attacks are "the fascist Turks who have invaded our country, exploit it and destroy our nature by burning it out" and "spit blood, death and brutality on us Kurds":

"You will see our anger and vengeance in the burning cities, in the ashes and smoke-covered skies, in the mountains and plains sunk in flames."

According to the declaration, the enemy - meaning the Turkish government - "despite all our humanitarian approaches" insists on the policy of genocide against the Kurds. The group has therefore called a "fire rebellion" against the Turkish government.

Regarding the suspicion that the forest fires could be traced back to human activity, Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said:

"We are thoroughly investigating the causes of the forest fires. If there are such traitors who set their own motherland on fire, they will be severely punished for it."

The forest fires in Turkey's southern provinces, where most of the country's resorts are located, have been going on since Wednesday. Six people were killed and more than 400 injured. Because of the fires, numerous tourists were evacuated from hotels in Bodrum and Marmaris. The number of forest fires has now dropped from 107 to five as most have been successfully contained.

The radical initiative "Children of Fire" has repeatedly carried out arson attacks in the forests of Turkey for several years as a reaction to the government's policy against the Kurdish movement and the PKK.

Whilst it's true that some areas are experiencing extreme weather conditions that create the ideal conditions for fires, and there's dangerous 'environmental' policies that prevent tried and tested fire management, like controlled burnings, it also seems to be the case that unusual crimes, including arson, and other violent attacks, are on the rise too, so the theory that a significant number of these fires could be due to arson seems plausible:

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