Greece’s Summer of Fire and Anger

[Music] in recent weeks a record heat wave sparked wildfires across greece over 500 fires raged across the country the largest and most damaging was on the island of evia the government focused its resources on putting out fires close to the great capital [Music] the residents of avia were told to evacuate many fled some divide the order staying behind to protect their villages said the [Music] while athens was saved evia burned a half a million acres went up in smoke and much of the island's forest and agricultural areas are now gone that's a boring system [Music] of [Music] [Music] with fire season still in full swing 2021 will be remembered in greece as the summer of fire and anger after seven days of distraction the residents of avia and volunteers from all over greece are still putting out fires [Music] on the morning of the second day when the fires started spreading over 500 firefighters were on the ground in athens but only 95 were in area the prime minister was accused of mismanaging the emergency situation volunteer firefighters took matters into their own hands today is the seventh day that every island is burning only the last few days we saw some airplanes and some helicopters people are lost their homes their businesses agriculture any kind of business around here is being destroyed i think for at least a generation we are in the fire front providing water and supplies to the people that they're here fighting the situation looks better but how better after one-third of the whole island of avia has been burnt [Music] your living room my tmi my my living room yes and this is my helmet the guerilla sisters lost their farm and animal shelter in the fire they're not yet sure if they will rebuild we had eight horses two donkeys and 13 dogs and i made a phone call to someone from the state of fajiana and he told me take the horses and run of course i am hungry not only uh for the government or the the way the government thinks and the fireplace but also for us as individuals okay i recycle so what now everything is burned the whole game has to change maybe this is the start of the end [Music] despite the scale of the disaster prime minister mitsutakis didn't visit the region during the crisis fearing a political backlash from local residents the deputy mayor of avia coordinated the under-resourced response [Music] [Music] his office coordinated emergency supplies for the villages and made sure evacuees had accommodation [Music] although the deputy mayor voted for the current government he warned the prime minister not to visit the island b [Music] [Music] [Music] foreign [Music] [Music] are [Music] following these fires the amount of land burned in greece this year has already surpassed that in 2020 by 50 percent you could only see this orange orange color a layer of flames and and smoke that close to the capital that really felt apocalyptic we're witnessing a part of our history where people are displaced due to a climate catastrophe in 1998 regional fire services were brought under the control of the fire authorities in athens vasilius yuki midis an expert in post-disaster management believes local firefighting knowledge was lost in the process we have these mammoth russian airplanes but in reality there's no substance they created a service that cannot respond in wildfires because they don't know the landscape and they don't know the communities and there is example coming to our attention where seasonal firefighters were prevented from operating because they exceeded the limit of hours they were supposed to be working and they wanted to be there and do the work there is a limit that they cannot exceed and that's not for safety purposes that's for money-saving purposes [Music] searching [Music] in order to save his home [Music] last year that the amazon was burned was the first year and now siberia is burned they're all related and we don't do anything we don't demand anything maybe this is how the game is ending [Music] foreign

Channel: VICE News

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Keywords: VICE News, VICE News Tonight, VICE on HBO, vice video, VICE on SHOWTIME, vice news 2020, Greece, wildfire, athens, wildfires, wildfires in greece, wildfires in europe, kyriakos mitsotakis, evia, climate change, documentary, documentaries, docs, interview, culture, lifestyle, world, exclusive, underground, journalism, vice guide, vice.com, vice, vice magazine, vice mag, vice videos, film, short film, movies, VWN, Vice World News, world news, greece fire, Wildfires devastate Turkey and Greece

Id: 2igfZB3YFU8

Length: 11min 15sec (675 seconds)

Published: Sat Sep 04 2021