Plan blazes trail for firefighters
Preparations began yesterday to whip the fire brigade into shape for what could be a busy summer, as the Inner Cabinet approved plans to make the force more flexible and efficient. Forest fires are much more frequent during the summer and Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras tried to get a head start on reorganizing the fire service by presenting a draft law to fellow ministers yesterday. The bill’s main aim is to split the service into several departments, with clearly defined tasks. These include a department for airborne firefighting and one for dealing with cases of arson. At the top level of the fire brigade, the bill proposes the creation of a council which will be responsible for planning, and another which will be assigned the task of managing crises. «The coordination of forces – the civil protection authority, the army, volunteers, seasonal firemen and the main body of the fire brigade – as laid out in the bill is a guarantee that we will battle… against fires during a difficult summer,» said Polydoras. In the worst fire last summer, up to 750 hectares of land northeast of Athens, of which some 350 was forested, was burnt. Recent efforts to plant trees in some of the areas affected by last year’s blaze have been hampered by objections from locals and poor care. Firefighter unionists support the minister’s planned reforms but believe that 2,000 more full-time employees are needed to ensure that Polydoras’s reforms are successful. The minister was coy yesterday when asked about more hirings, simply saying, «We are fighting for it.» However, sources indicate that openings for an extra 600 firefighters will be created this month.
