Fire in Attica: Tritich mitigating the effects of the climate crisis

Last Sunday 11/8 at noon, the huge deadly fire in Attica, which started from Varnavas, crossed kilometers and burned into the urban fabric, again highlighting the lack of fire protection and the nakedness of the state of workers.

The persistence of rulers seeking an alibi in the climate crisis masks the continuation of a policy that de-emphasizes prevention, such as fire protection measures, which means new suffering from fires and other disasters.

The fire in Attica burned 100 thousand acres according to data from the European Sentinel-2 satellite processed by the National Observatory of Athens/meteo.gr.

Let’s not lose a single tree

Scientists have warned that there is no chance of losing a single tree now.

As Eftimis Lekas, a professor of geography and natural disaster management, pointed out, “We must not lose a single tree in Attica. This is an area that has lost 50% of its forests in the last fifteen years, and we must protect the remaining forests.”

“The climate crisis is here, we must adapt or the consequences will only get worse”

He noted the need to mitigate the effects of the climate crisis. “I have been following the political dialogue for the last time, and everything contributes to solving these problems. The climate crisis is here. We have to see in which ways we can reduce the impact. We are certainly talking about Attica, which has been the focus of interest for the last few days (…)

Scientific research is conducted in all these cases.

Let’s look at the factors that trigger the manifestation of these phenomena and what factors contribute to the larger effects.

It’s purely a matter of scientific research, which we haven’t mastered, we’ve mastered more earthquakes since 1984 when the Earthquake Planning and Protection Agency was created,” he said.

Three-dimensional to mitigate the effects

And he continued: “So we have a good anti-seismic control and the effects of earthquakes are very small, while the effects of fires or floods are very large, as happened in Penteli and the recent fire (… )

We are seeing globally that we are unable to digest the impacts.

A year ago, Greece enacted anti-nuclear regulations, as well as regulations mandating land cleanup. Many houses in Penteli, many houses in Vrilisia, fire protection for constructions (…) could have been saved if this regulation had been followed.

The first thing we can do in accordance with the requirements of the United Nations is to adapt to the situation and second, to mitigate the consequences through specific practices in prevention, intervention and rehabilitation (…)”.

In 8 years, 37% of Attica’s forests burned

It is reminded: from 2017 to today, more than 700 thousand acres were burned due to 13 large fires in Attica. In total, in eight years, 37% of Attica’s forests burned (Copernicus and the European Observatory on Forest Fires).

Impressive and alarming results emerge from an updated analysis of areas burned by wildfires in the continental part of the Attica region over the past 8 years (2017–present).

Map with perimeter of burnt areas

Extent of burned areas in Attica region from 2017 to present. Red and pink shades represent areas burned in 2023 and 2024 (as of 13/8) and yellow and orange represent areas burned in the previous 8 years. The vast area of ​​the Attica Basin is marked in gray.

The total area of ​​the Attica region (excluding Troisinia, the islands and the basin area) is 2,500,000 acres, so 26% of the total area has been burned by wildfires in the last 8 years. meteo.gr.

In the Attica region, the area of ​​forest lands is approximately 1,230,000 acres and in the last 8 years, 450,000 acres of forest have been burned, i.e. 37% of the forest area. Recently, a fire that started from Varnavas Attica has reached the Leganopedi residential area, burning a large part of the forest area of ​​northeastern Attica.