The years go by, and we still haven’t learned our lesson. Despite the toll this country has paid in human lives, property, and the natural environment, just one week before the June 15 deadline for clearing vacant lots and other areas of dead combustible material, Attica is a jungle.
A simple drive through the northern or southern suburbs of the prefecture will confirm this. It is not only that thousands of private plots remain uncleared, but even the areas under the jurisdiction of local authorities show not a single trace of cleanup from dead combustible material. With rare exceptions, which prove the… rule.
Last year was a “tough” year in terms of wildfires. Nearly half a million acres of forest and agroforestry land were reduced to ashes. Not as much as in 2023, when 1.36 million acres were burned, but still, the cost to the natural environment, the property, and the lives of the people living here was heavy.
It does not seem, however, that we are learning our lesson. Despite these figures—which are tragic for our country—and despite the heavy fines stipulated by the new Law 5182/2026 for failure to clean up or even to submit a land cleanup declaration on the akatharista.apps.gov.gr, no one seems to be taking this seriously.
Will all these plots be cleaned up within a week? Obviously not all of them. Factors like this, however, will determine whether we face another dramatic summer. No matter what preparations the government and volunteer organizations make in terms of equipment or personnel, if the situation remains as it is today—with thousands of acres of uncleared land—we should brace ourselves for the worst. No one, however, can claim ignorance.
Neither the dead of past years, nor the burned-out lands, nor the lost properties, allow us to do so. Similarly, no one can claim ignorance of the law’s provisions. This includes, quite rightly, the state itself, a part of which appears to be completely unaware of it.
Otherwise, there is no explanation for why local government agencies, in a number of areas, fail to clear even the roadside of dry vegetation, thereby jeopardizing even… road safety, since in many cases the height of the vegetation obstructs drivers’ visibility.
Although it is true that weather conditions were not favorable for clearing plots or other areas this year, due to frequent rainfall that prevented grass and other vegetation from drying out, we are likely experiencing a period of… of ignorance of the danger. An ignorance that may come at a heavy cost, however much we may wish to avoid it.
Following a series of legislative measures, most of them misguided, such as the infamous “Fire Protection Regulation” that was rightly withdrawn due to the flaws it contained, this year the government deemed it appropriate—unlike in previous years—to set mid-June as the deadline for clearing plots of dead combustible material. As usual, however, in our country we generally leave everything to the… last minute. As seems to have happened yesterday in Loutraki, with the fire that broke out there while a foreigner was clearing a plot of land with a lawn mower.
But when you leave everything to the last minute, and that moment comes after the start of the fire season (May 1), then a lot can go wrong…