Forest fires in Greece: With the fire brigade from Bonn to the Mediterranean

There has been a fire in Greece for almost two weeks. In the fight against the flames, 224 firefighters from Germany support their Greek colleagues.

It is an unusual picture at the gas station in the Greek port city of Patras: 18 vehicles with German license plates, most of them bright red. They are fire service vehicles.

“We are the first German forest fire fighting module to arrive that the federal government has dispatched as part of the European disaster control procedure,” says Simon Friz from the Bonn fire brigade. He leads the mission in Greece.

A total of 57 emergency services from North Rhine-Westphalia want to support the Greek colleagues in the fight against the flames. They left their home country a good 50 hours ago. Now they are traveling in a convoy, escorted by the Greek police, into the mountains. Your destination: Tropea, a village in the Arcadia region on the Peloponnese peninsula.

The first night outdoors

They want to set up their base camp nearby. The journey will take two to three hours. But then the convoy doesn’t even stop halfway. It goes to a parking lot in the town of Pyrgos.

There are problems with the base camp, explains operations manager Friz: “The current state of affairs is that we cannot drive any further at the moment because the designated place where we should set up our camp is fenced off with fire. All around this afternoon there were strong fires. It is absolutely important to us that the camp that we are setting up is in a safe area, so that our colleagues can also rest there. ”

In a few hours, the team will experience for themselves how quickly the situation can change in the fire areas. After consultation with the municipality of Pyrgos, it is now clear: The team will spend the first night here outdoors.

Difficult conditions on site

The next morning: Part of the team will initially stay here and take care of a new warehouse, while the others will set off for the first fire-fighting operation. It is not yet entirely clear where exactly the firefighters are needed. They report to the Greek authorities, who tell them where to delete. But the local conditions are difficult.

“Basically, the possibility of getting water at all is relatively sporadic. That means you have to prepare well so that you don’t run the risk of being trapped in the flames. Because the winds change a lot strong, so that no direction of propagation can be predicted, “explains Friz.

It’s raining ash

Last preparations, then off we go towards Tropea. The Greek authorities guide Friz and his team into the mountains. The smoke is getting thicker and thicker. As soon as there is a little wind, it rains ash. Entire slopes have burned to the right and left, a charred animal carcass on the roadside, maybe a fox or a dog. The emergency services stop on a hill. It is still not clear where exactly they should delete.

More than 600 firefighters are deployed in the Peloponnese alone – they all have to be coordinated. For Friz and his team that means: wait. Smoke rises somewhere below.

“The winds are just too strong”

Then suddenly, within seconds, the fire is there. Meter-high flames blaze just a few meters from the place where the emergency vehicles are parked. The first firefighting operation for Friz and his team.

“The situation is now more or less safe for us here again. And the winds are just gusting here around the afternoon. The spread of the fire is very extreme very quickly. And you have seen how quickly it can go, how it runs away,” says Friz. “We tried to catch the fire coming up the slope by the flames. We succeeded in doing that down here, but the winds are just too strong and it has now run into the slope and is now spreading. Now we have to we’ll see where the next place is where you can catch it. “

You will gradually get a grip on the fire. But the deployment will still take a few hours. In the meantime, the colleagues in the valley have found a place for the base camp: It is in a valley near a hydroelectric power station. There is nothing else here – but the team has everything to take care of itself.

Pasta with pesto and tomatoes

We are completely self-sufficient, starting with drinking water, washing hands, showering, using the toilet, and all equipment. Everything is included that you need for the possible seven plus X days, “says Heiko Basten from the Bonn fire brigade.

The tents with the camp beds are already in place. Volunteers from the Red Cross and the Maltese take care of the welfare of the firefighters – this includes catering. They are currently preparing dinner in the mobile kitchen: pasta with pesto and tomatoes.

It’ll be dark in half an hour. Then the others will come back from firefighting and relax a little – before we start again tomorrow.