Firefighting union says Greece short of personnel and equipment to counter blazes
Greece is desperately short of firefighters and adequate equipment to battle blazes, the POEPYS union representing workers in the fire service said on Monday.
With wildfires beginning to appear this summer, POEPYS expressed its concerns about the fire service’s weaknesses in tackling these blazes.
The union said no full-time firefighters have been hired since 2008 and that it estimates some 4,200 places need to be filled.
It also claimed that only 415 of the 1,700 firefighting vehicles Greece possesses are less than 10 years old and that 13 of the 21 water-dropping planes at the fire service’s disposal are more than 20 years old.
