Greece is Burning

[VetLegion]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/6963373.stm

Greek emergency workers continue to find the charred bodies of people burned to death by forest fires that are raging in the south of the country.

Officials raised the death toll from the fires over the past two days to 46.

Searches of burnt cars, houses and fields were still turning up the remains of those who could not escape.

Prime Minister Kostas Karamanlis called the situation "an unspeakable tragedy". The government appealed for EU help and later declared a state of emergency.

Greek newspapers are calling the southern Peloponnese region a "crematorium", says the BBC's Malcolm Brabant in Athens.

In Croatia there are also fires every summer, but at least nobody died this year (I think).

In Greece there are at least 46 dead, it's a disaster

[b etor]

[Barnabas]

A friend I have who went to Spain, worked for a year and a half there, and went on a trip thru europe before returning, he told me Greece is very arid

[aneeshm]

[VetLegion]

It's the same every year. It makes one wonder whether something can be done. Actually, something can certainly be done. I don't think that there is a fire a dozen of these couldn't put out:

[BeBMan]

[Barnabas]

I think it is the worst death to be killed by fire

Everything is near in europe, cant germany or italy send huge ass airplanes filled with water and let it drop over there?

[BeBMan]

Well, we usually don't have such serious fires (not so hot/dry climate usually), so our firefighters don't use such "waterbombers" AFAIk. I think these are special planes used by countries that regularly have serious forest fires.

But yeah, they should definately get any possible help

[VetLegion]

Not everybody has firefighting airplanes. Of that type which I posted (Be-200), only two exist and both are Russian. This Canadian plane is widely used in Europe:



But it is expensive as hell so not many are in service. Croatia only has a couple, but Italy, Spain etc., don't have many more, and they are all busy. Northern countries are cooler so they don't need those planes.

[BlackCat]

You forgot to copy the most sickening comment from that article :

# Arson was suspected in several cases, with 20 new fires starting during the night, a fire department spokesman said

[BeBMan]

Just read a German article which said that Greece has in fact one of the largest fleets of planes and helis for firefighting (over 40), but the main problem is currently the weather - heavy storms prevented better use of them so far.

However, it also said there's help (more planes, firefighters) underway from several other Euro countries.

[DanQ]

Originally posted by b etor

QFT

[germanos]

# Arson was suspected in several cases, with 20 new fires starting during the night, a fire department spokesman said

For some reason it's very profitable to burn down forests (Apparently it makes the land easier to build real-estate on). In Greece it's an annual ritual, as it is in parts of Italy and Spain.

It's a crying shame suitible legislation cannot be passed through the respective parliaments. A crime like this was bound to happen sooner or later. Perhaps the Greeks will finally solve the issue, but expect similar scenes in Italy and Spain in the decade to come .

[Wernazuma III]

Originally posted by germanos
It's a crying shame suitible legislation cannot be passed through the respective parliaments. A crime like this was bound to happen sooner or later. Perhaps the Greeks will finally solve the issue, but expect similar scenes in Italy and Spain in the decade to come .

QFT.
Folks, hold your politicians accountable for ignoring this huge problems for decades.

Italian politicians: "Dear Mafiosi, please make a little break with burning down the forests. Just a few days, no offense intended."

Vet: How's the situation in Croatia? Was the Dubrovnik fire bad luck or was there also arson? A friend of mine eye-witnessed the fire, brought awesome fotos back home.

[Varwnos]

It is arson alright.
As it has been said, bad laws allow for criminals making a profit out of burning and then building.
Although this is the first time there has been such a huge scale of a disaster, with many dead