Greece has been plagued by daily outbreaks of dozens of fires over the past week as gale-force winds and hot, dry summer conditions combined to whip up flames and hamper firefighting efforts.
Athens, Greece – Fire department officials in Greece arrested two men Saturday for allegedly deliberately setting fires, while hundreds of firefighters in the past week.
One man was arrested on the island of Evia for allegedly setting fire to dried grass in the Karystos area. The fire department said the man confessed to having set four other fires in the area in July and August.
A second man arrested in the Larissa area of central Greece also was accused of intentionally setting fire to dried vegetation.
Officials have blamed arson for several fires in Greece over the past week. It remains unclear what sparked the country’s largest blazes, including one in the northeastern region of Evros, where nearly all the fire-attributed deaths occurred, and another on the fringes of Athens.
„Some … arsonists are setting fires, endangering forests, property and above all human lives,“ Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Vassilis Kikilias said Thursday. „What is happening is not just unacceptable, but despicable and criminal.“
The minister said nine fires were set in the space of four hours Thursday morning in the Avlona area in the northern foothills of Mount Parnitha on the northwestern fringes of Athens which is one of the capital’s last green areas.
A major fire was already burning on the southern side of the mountain at the time, and it continued to burn Saturday.
