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| A man prepared to spray water from a hose onto a hill burning near the Greek village of Kato Katilio on Wednesday. Petros Giannakouris/AP |
Greeks angry, confused over fires
Many locals say arsonists started the deadly fires that have swept the country in the past week.
By Nicole Itano | Correspondent of The Christian Science Monitorfrom the August 31, 2007 edition
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Kato Kotilio and Athens, Greece - Smoke billowed from behind the hill and the air crackled with heat. A raging fire – one of hundreds that have scorched Greece over the past week, killing at least 64 – was just over a mile away and heading toward this small cluster of ten homes on the Peloponnese peninsula.
But half a dozen residents of Kato Kotilio refused police orders to leave. They prepared to defend their homes by tamping down the flames with leafy branches hacked off of nearby trees.
"These fires have been started," insists Zoe Niova, who was born here, as she helped her sister clear vegetation from around her house. "It doesn't help that it's really dry, but these fires are not an accident."
Like Ms. Niova, most Greeks believe sinister forces are behind the deadly spate of fires that have swept across the country in the past few days, tipping Greece toward a political crisis as it heads into elections on Sept. 16. She and many others here are angry, but uncertain where to direct their frustration.
"Who knows?" she shrugged, when asked who would set such fires. "I don't know."
By the end of the week, Greek officials said they had most of the blazes under control. Focus shifted to relief efforts and the government began assessing the extent of the damage: The European Commission's European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) estimates that 469,000 acres burned between Aug. 24 and 28 alone. The financial ministry now estimates the damage to be more than $1.6 billion, or 0.6 percent of Greece's GDP.
At a hillside junction outside Kato Kotilio, a volunteer in a battered white car stopped motorists entering the area and jotted down their license plate numbers. This is the front line against what government officials have hinted is an organized, even terrorist, attack against Greece.
Part of an 'asymmetric threat'?
Public Order Minister Vyron Polydoras, who is part of the ruling conservative New Democracy party, said the fires were part of an "asymmetric threat" and that the country's intelligence and antiterrorism agencies were investigating. At least six people have been charged, and dozens more arrested, on suspicion of starting fires.
George Papandreou, the leader of Greece's main opposition party the Pan-Hellenic Socialist Movement (PASOK), hit back, saying the government is attempting to find a scapegoat.
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