Fires all over Europe!!!

[daim]

Over 300 fires were counted only in greece but as I can see the problem is global!!!It's a huge problem and most of you already know.The oxigen level has reached a level of 12% in athens, that's below the limit!!! We wil now have bigger problems. It will be a difficult year for all the people of athens and I'm sure that most of us will have health problems in the future. These forests that burned it will take at least 100 years to be rebuilt!!! If they make it so far. cause i'm sure they will burn again...

[Simon]

Yes this is a real dangerous problem. As the earth get's warmer more and more forests will burn and releases enormous amount of CO2 into the atmosphere.

But the biggest threat is the rainforests. If we reach an 3 degrees increase in the earths global temperature the rainforests will all burn down and then we can no longer stop the effects of global warming - we are doomed.

We need to act now! Tell your local politicians to support renewable energy and other green initiatives. Togheter we are strong!

[daim]

Simon, the forests don't burn because of the temperature increase! but from the arsonists!!! they put up fires in the forests so they can built later their houses on these hills!!! The most forests burn because of that, but some other forests are burned because of accidents... Politicals in greece, had a great idea! they will get soldiers on these hills, so there can be more protection for the forests! also in a fire the firefighters will recieve help from the army!!! this actions will really help!!!

[Simon]

Simon, the forests don't burn because of the temperature increase! but from the arsonists!!! they put up fires in the forests so they can built later their houses on these hills!!! The most forests burn because of that, but some other forests are burned because of accidents... Politicals in greece, had a great idea! they will get soldiers on these hills, so there can be more protection for the forests! also in a fire the firefighters will recieve help from the army!!! this actions will really help!!!

Well that is not entirely true. When the planet gets warmer the forests will become dry becuase their will be less water and rains. Therefor it will be easier for fires to take place. And a dry forest must be a heaven for an arsonist...

[daim]

Well that is not entirely true. When the planet gets warmer the forests will become dry becuase their will be less water and rains. Therefor it will be easier for fires to take place. And a dry forest must be a heaven for an arsonist...

I see!!! what you said is totally true... Then stop the climate change

[daim]

41 people dead and 10 more missing! Huge amounts of forest trees were burned down, over 50 fires burning all over greece,10 villages are totally destroyed(more to come) and all these over the last 48 hours. Imagine what is still ahead us, with winds blowing really hard and fires moving like a fast car!!! I'm leaving now for my village to see if there's nothing I can still save(although I doubt it). Pathetic, just PATHETIC.

[Simon]

41 people dead and 10 more missing! Huge amounts of forest trees were burned down, over 50 fires burning all over greece,10 villages are totally destroyed(more to come) and all these over the last 48 hours. Imagine what is still ahead us, with winds blowing really hard and fires moving like a fast car!!! I'm leaving now for my village to see if there's nothing I can still save(although I doubt it). Pathetic, just PATHETIC.

I just heard about it on the news. Really really sad.

Don't get yourself in danger now! We don't want to see you get hurt in any way...

[armadillo]

I just came back from vacations and I was literaly crying all the way home...Now we have 60 dead people,many villages are cut out and the whole population is in danger of getting burnt alive...I couldn't be more sad

[daim]

I must inform you that my house in peloponissos is totally burned!!! It was a 100 years old small house which was kept alive by my family... I was planning to go for vacation there this summer, but now...... . Shame on us. Some photos I saw in the news through the satelite, the half peloponisos is burning and smoke reached italia! Imagine how huge they are.

[armadillo]

I'm so sorry for your house daim,and for all those properties burnt...But those people who were burnt...I don't know what to say...

[Simon]

It's sad... It really is. Luckily you or any in your family didn't get hurt..

[armadillo]

News guys...now we have 63 people burnt and more than 30 missing...I say arsonists must face death sentence,they don't have any right to live...

[Simon]

News are reporting here that many fires started because its forbidden to build on land with forests. But if the land and the forest has been burned down its OK to build.

Is it just me who thinks this law is kind of stupid and actually encourage people to start wildfires?

[armadillo]

No Simon,I have the same opinion...if there was a law saying all burnt forests are to be remade they wouldn't have any motive to burn them..But they wont make such a law,cos they are stupid useless aliens

[Simon]

Taken from: http://www.newsvine.com/_news/2007/08/2 ... -for-fires

With wildfires raging across the countryside, Greece's government said it has enlisted intelligence and counterterrorism agents to foil what it sees as a deliberate plan by arsonists to destroy Greek forests.

But environmental experts expressed skepticism that arsonists were behind most of the blazes.

At least 63 people have died during the past three days as Greece's worst fires in living memory obliterated swaths of forests and emptied villages from Evros in the north to the western islands of Corfu and Kefalonia, and the Peloponnese in the south.

A senior prosecutor ordered an investigation Monday to examine whether the fires could be termed acts of terrorism or organized crime — allowing authorities broader powers of investigation and arrest.

Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras said the Secret Service and anti-terrorism squad had joined police in investigating the blazes. "We have indications (arsonists were involved), witness testimonies and finds which require investigation," he said.

An official of the WWF environmental group, however, dismissed the notion of an orchestrated arson campaign.

"I think these are very dangerous assessments, particularly when the evidence so far does not seem to back them," said Theodota Nantsou, the group's conservation manager for Greece.

Prime Minister Costas Karamanlis has indicated that many blazes were intentionally set. The fires appeared likely to dominate political debate before early parliamentary elections on Sept. 16: Karamanlis' government has come under fire for what some saw as a tepid response to fires earlier this summer, and many think government did not react quickly enough to the most recent blazes.

On Sunday, Polydoras implied a deliberate plan was in motion. "We can say that this truly constitutes an asymmetric threat," he said, without elaborating.

Greece's main opposition Socialist party demanded Karamanlis provide proof that there was such a plan.

"If he doesn't provide evidence then he is undermining the country," Socialist Party leader George Papandreou said.

Authorities have arrested 11 people on suspicion of starting fires since Friday. These included an elderly man charged with deliberately setting a fire that caused six deaths, a grandmother accused of starting a vast blaze while cooking in her yard and a man who was allegedly careless with a lit cigarette.

The government is offering an award of up to $1.36 million for anyone providing information leading to the arrest "of members of a criminal organization that is seeking to carry out arson in forests, or of deliberate arsonists."

Nantsou said some fires may have been set by prospective developers seeking to build on former forest land — particularly in high-value coastal areas and near Athens — warning that forest protection laws are laxly enforced.

"The problem is not so much the law as its enforcement," Nantsou said. "The lack of zoning and forest maps provides a motive to break the law on forests and build illegal buildings."

The head of the association of Athens real estate agents agreed.

"It is rather late now, but the state should designate these areas to be immediately reforested, map them and complete the forest registry without further delay," Yiannis Revythis said. "If an area is officially designated as forest land, who will burn it as it will still count as forest land afterward?"