Greek wildfires reach Athens

Joe,

Greece regarding catastrophe defense is far better equiped than Croatia.No woder that during many earthquakes they are the leading force(Turkey,Bam in Iran,Armenia) .The magnitude and the character of fires in greece is much different.Despite the fact that that both countries are covered by 30 percent of forest,in Greece you have big unbroken forest areas on the verge of densly populated areas while in croatia you have forest islands Which are much easier to handle.Additionally due to geographical situation of Greece the average temperature in summer is 3-4 centidegrees higher and the versatility of air currents is also bigger.So this is a differnt kind of war:Expertise of italian firefighters is much more useful there for example .Anyway during firefight croats were able to use only 3 or 4 pieces of their fleet because of maintanance problems while the greek have and had about 12-15 effective well maintained planes of their own which is however still too few given there you have frequent fires of Californian and Australian magnitude.And you may know that even in the two latter mentioned areas it takes long weeks to fight the fire with much better equipment.So this croatian offer is very generous but it is as if hungarians offered USAF fingos jenõ as being the most modern stealthfighter.

Nonsense szemi your statement that ,Anyway during firefight Croats were able to use only 3 or 4 pieces of their fleet because of maintanance problems. Half of the fire bomber fleet of 12 aircraft is no older than 2 years old and the other half no more then 5 years old. The helicopter fleet is modernized and overhauled in 2005 that are used for fire fighting they are all maintained and functioning good. The old fire fighting bomber CL-215 airplanes were retired in 2004 when the new CL-415 ones were purchased and came on line.

Greece should ask Croatia for help it has up to 24 aircraft for fighting fires. From a dozen fire bombers to fire fighting equipt helicopters and experienced crews. Croatia has the same topography and the know how to fight those kind of fires.

Such fires occur in Grece every year. How is it that the country - much richer than Croatia - is not equiped like Croatia to meet the challange?

It is up to the Greek goverment if it needs international help and up to the fire chiefs on the grownd. In 1997 when the devasting fires raged in Greece they reqwested help. Croatia sent its fire fighting aircraft. I dont know or understand why the Greek goverment is waiting for maybe they think their crews can handle it. But it is a big gamble not to bright the ordaniry Greek citizens are mighty upset with their authoreties. Especialy with the fires raging right next to Athens and other areas villages evacuated because of the fires.

I agree with you Lenard that Greece should ask for help but hey it's up to them. Tonight I saw on TV some locals pouring water into big fires with some small containers but that's not going to do any good. Honestly I thought that greece learned a lesson last year, they've got to act before it's too late. Too many ancient monuments there and they must be saved plus all that toxic fog all over Athens itself.
Greece do the smart move and ask for help.

Lenard,

You are partially right .Now you really have this fleet and as far as I know the 2 Canadair CL-415 were tested during 2007 greek forest fires:But I refered to fires near Dubrovnik (2007)and Trogir (2003?) where you used a worse fleet which was only upgraded after 12 firefighters lost their lives in 2007. You bought 5 AT-802 and 2 new Cl-415 only after this event.I simply answered Joe's question because perhaps he does not know that greece has figherfighter fleet consisting of 21 modern and upgraded planes.Still too few given the conditions in greece which I described earlier.As I wrote air currents are more complex the gust is bigger.This is very good for wind surfers ,but makes figherfight more difficult.It is not an accident that main windsurfing events are organized in greece and professionals train there while croatia because of smaller wind is rather advisable for recreational windsurfers among them many of my overweight hungarian friends.

greece shouldnt have to ask croatia for help , croatia should have already sent help as should of all other neiboring countrys in the name of common sense and humanity .

Such fires occur in Grece every year. How is it that the country - much richer than Croatia - is not equiped like Croatia to meet the challange?

Greece should ask Croatia for help it has up to 24 aircraft for fighting fires. From a dozen fire bombers to fire fighting equipt helicopters and experienced crews. Croatia has the same topography and the know how to fight those kind of fires.

It is up to the Greek goverment if it needs international help and up to the fire chiefs on the grownd. In 1997 when the devasting fires raged in Greece they reqwested help. Croatia sent its fire fighting aircraft. I dont know or understand why the Greek goverment is waiting for maybe they think their crews can handle it. But it is a big gamble not to bright the ordaniry Greek citizens are mighty upset with their authoreties. Especialy with the fires raging right next to Athens and other areas villages evacuated because of the fires.

I agree with you Lenard that Greece should ask for help but hey it's up to them. Tonight I saw on TV some locals pouring water into big fires with some small containers but that's not going to do any good. Honestly I thought that greece learned a lesson last year, they've got to act before it's too late. Too many ancient monuments there and they must be saved plus all that toxic fog all over Athens itself.
Greece do the smart move and ask for help.

Joe,

Greece regarding catastrophe defense is far better equiped than Croatia.No woder that during many earthquakes they are the leading force(Turkey,Bam in Iran,Armenia) .The magnitude and the character of fires in greece is much different.Despite the fact that that both countries are covered by 30 percent of forest,in Greece you have big unbroken forest areas on the verge of densly populated areas while in croatia you have forest islands Which are much easier to handle.Additionally due to geographical situation of Greece the average temperature in summer is 3-4 centidegrees higher and the versatility of air currents is also bigger.So this is a differnt kind of war:Expertise of italian firefighters is much more useful there for example .Anyway during firefight croats were able to use only 3 or 4 pieces of their fleet because of maintanance problems while the greek have and had about 12-15 effective well maintained planes of their own which is however still too few given there you have frequent fires of Californian and Australian magnitude.And you may know that even in the two latter mentioned areas it takes long weeks to fight the fire with much better equipment.So this croatian offer is very generous but it is as if hungarians offered USAF fingos jenõ as being the most modern stealthfighter.

greece shouldnt have to ask croatia for help , croatia should have already sent help as should of all other neiboring countrys in the name of common sense and humanity .

Nonsense szemi your statement that ,Anyway during firefight Croats were able to use only 3 or 4 pieces of their fleet because of maintanance problems. Half of the fire bomber fleet of 12 aircraft is no older than 2 years old and the other half no more then 5 years old. The helicopter fleet is modernized and overhauled in 2005 that are used for fire fighting they are all maintained and functioning good. The old fire fighting bomber CL-215 airplanes were retired in 2004 when the new CL-415 ones were purchased and came on line.

Lenard,

You are partially right .Now you really have this fleet and as far as I know the 2 Canadair CL-415 were tested during 2007 greek forest fires:But I refered to fires near Dubrovnik (2007)and Trogir (2003?) where you used a worse fleet which was only upgraded after 12 firefighters lost their lives in 2007. You bought 5 AT-802 and 2 new Cl-415 only after this event.I simply answered Joe's question because perhaps he does not know that greece has figherfighter fleet consisting of 21 modern and upgraded planes.Still too few given the conditions in greece which I described earlier.As I wrote air currents are more complex the gust is bigger.This is very good for wind surfers ,but makes figherfight more difficult.It is not an accident that main windsurfing events are organized in greece and professionals train there while croatia because of smaller wind is rather advisable for recreational windsurfers among them many of my overweight hungarian friends.