Volunteers rush to help Greece fire victims

A volunteer arranges clothes for residents of areas that were struck by a wildfire in Nea Makri, near Athens, Greece, July 25, 2018. (Reuters)

Grief and shock over Greece’s deadliest wildfires were clouded on Friday by a bitter debate over who to blame, as the opposition rejected the government’s suggestion that the blazes were started deliberately.

Deputy Citizen Protection Minister Nikos Toskas on Thursday suggested there were “serious” signs that the worst of the fires, which killed scores this week east of Athens, was the result of arson.

Forensics experts pressed ahead on Friday with the difficult task of identifying the bodies of the 82 people known to have perished in the catastrophe.

Bodies carbonised

An official in the identification effort told Greek radio that most of the bodies were completely carbonised, meaning the task would likely take several more days to complete.

Amid public anger over the government’s handling of the aftermath, Toskas told reporters on Thursday that “a serious piece of information has led to us opening an investigation” into possible “criminal acts.”

Officials citing information from satellite maps have said that 13 fires broke out at the same time across the region of Attica – which includes Athens – on Monday.

But the government has come in for strong criticism over its response to the disaster despite a $46.5 million  (40-million euro) relief fund for those affected.

Defence Minister Panos Kammenos was heckled on Thursday as he visited the coastal region of Mati, where most of the fatalities occurred.

“You left us to God’s mercy, there’s nothing left,” shouted one resident.

This general view shows the burned home of Greek film-maker Theo Angelopoulos in the village of Mati, near Athens on July 26, 2018. The house and private archives of Greek cinema godfather Theo Angelopoulos, who died in 2012, were destroyed in this week’s deadly wildfires near Athens, his widow said on July 26, 2018. The film-maker, who won the prestigious Palme d’Or at Cannes in 1998 for “Eternity and a Day.” (AFP)

But Kammenos went on the counter-attack, telling the BBC that illegal construction in the past was also to blame for the disaster.

The “majority” of houses on the coast had been built without the proper licences, he said.

“After this tragedy I think it is the moment to understand that it’s dangerous for them and for their families to not follow the rules and the laws,” the minister said.

Experts have said that a mix of poor urban planning, including a lack of proper access routes and the construction of too many buildings next to combustible forest areas, contributed to what were Europe’s worst wildfires this century.

The region’s mayor Evangelos Bournos told Greek radio on Friday that the emergency responders had inadvertently trapped residents by closing a main road near the fires.

“We are all responsible, the government, the emergency services, and citizens,” he said.

Deplorable spectacle

The opposition New Democracy party reacted stingingly to Toskas’ claim that the fires were the result of criminal acts.

“This deplorable spectacle of rejecting any responsibility can only provoke anger,” it said in a statement.

The opposition daily Ta Nea ran a front-page image of government ministers with the headline: “Incompetent provocateurs.”

The fires struck coastal villages popular with holidaymakers and burned with such ferocity that most people fled to the safety of the sea with just the clothes on their backs.

Survivors spoke of harrowing scenes including entire families burnt alive in their homes.

“We were alone, there was nobody to help us. Everybody did what they thought they had to do to survive on their own,” resident Evi Kavoura told AFP.

Volunteers come forward

Schools in the Greek port town of Rafina are unusually busy for summer, overflowing with donations and volunteers, showing the vast wellspring of local solidarity for victims of deadly fires.

“You see this girl? Her house burned down, and now she’s here every day helping,” said Anastasios Moustikadis, pointing to a teenager tidying bottles of water.

The 40-year-old, who organises donations at the primary school-turned-warehouse, himself lost one of his closest friends in the fires when they destroyed the neighbouring village of Mati.

“I will go to her funeral Sunday, that’s the only break I’ll allow myself,” said Moustikadis, as a batch of volunteers arrived to help distribute donations by car.

In the hours after Monday night’s tragedy, when more than 80 people died, mostly suffocated by smoke or burned alive in the terrible blaze, a vast wave of solidarity swept the country.

Members of a rescue team look for missing people in the village of Mati, near Athens, on July 25, 2018. (AFP)

“Mati looks like a war zone, it’s unbelievable,” said Zoi Pantelidou, 26, who has been volunteering at the town hall since Tuesday, co-ordinating volunteers and donations.

“I can’t tell you exactly how many (volunteers) there are, the number grows every day,” said Savvas Arapkilis, deputy mayor of the city.

On Thursday, dozens of people, mostly teenagers and young adults, queued patiently to register for volunteering duties.

“They are the children of the crisis, they know that we need solidarity and to work together,” said Moustikadis.

Volunteer nation

Greece, hit by years of austerity and on the front lines of Europe’s immigration crisis, has learned to rely on an organised civil society, in the face of underfunded public services stretched to breaking point.

Free dispensaries, citizen canteens and volunteer activities for refugees have flourished across the country.

The momentum after the fire has been such that Rafina’s mayor Evangelos Bournous has had to appeal to citizens to stop sending food, saying they “cannot manage any more.” Four municipal buildings are already overflowing with donations.

Members of a rescue team search an area following a wildfire at the village of Mati, near Athens, Greece. (Reuters)

“Would you like some water,” a teenager asks an elderly couple who are busy trying to clean up their charred house in Mati.

It’s the third team to offer them water and food in less than a quarter of an hour.

“I take the water every time,” said Sophia Tsaganou Profitou.

“It could be a month until they’ve restored the water,” added the septuagenarian. The electricity is also cut.

Patrols by teams of volunteers has allowed them to discover critical humanitarian situations which could have escaped the authorities.

But sometimes, volunteers are patrolling an area where no residents are left. At burned houses, short notes have been scrawled outside: “We’re fine” plus a mobile number at which they can be reached.

“What we’re doing is just a drop in the ocean, but I couldn’t continue my holiday as if nothing had happened,” said 17-year-old Photini, wearing a paper mask to protect against the smell of smoke which still envelops the burned village.