A thought

[Brian Ellis]

May I offer, this Sunday, a thought for those in Greece who are suffering the results of a prolonged drought and the forest/brush fires that have killed >50 people and exhausted countless firefighters who selflessly try to combat the inferno?

[NetSnake]

59 and the number is not final...
fires broke out (more or less) simultaneously in 84 places

Edit: 84 focal points in about 10 places when it started.

About 200 fires in total have been reported the past 48h !!!!!!!

[Dr Mordrid]

May I offer, this Sunday, a thought for those in Greece who are suffering the results of a prolonged drought and the forest/brush fires that have killed >50 people and exhausted countless firefighters who selflessly try to combat the inferno?

Agreed, our best to them and theirs.

I see no way this is anything but arson, be it crazies or terror whoever it is they need a close encounter with a cattle prod

[Elie]

The fires already ruined a few villages my wifes relatives live in, and the fire is now so close to my sister in laws house in Artaki, it's only a matter of time.

No one got hurt from our relatives, but property damage is huge.

The problem is not it's night time there, and no planes can fly to throw water so fire can spread with no control what so ever.

I'll pray for everyone over there

[Jessterw]

My thoughts are with your relatives Elie and everyone else there.

[ND66]

May I offer, this Sunday, a thought for those in Greece who are suffering the results of a prolonged drought and the forest/brush fires that have killed >50 people and exhausted countless firefighters who selflessly try to combat the inferno?

Wish them luck from the bottom of my heart.

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[Elie]

These fires apperantly were caused by political extremists pre government elections, they caught a few of them.

I hope they throw them in the hell they created to burn alive!!!!

All the people they killed
All the houses they destroyed
All the natural resources they ruined
All the Oxygen the burned!!!!!!!!!

These people should be torchered to death.

[TransformX]

There's hardly a punishment good enough for people who have so recklessly mudered, maimed and deprived people of their houses, belongings and all physical memories they had.
I don't remember which comedian it was (Seinfeld?) but I'd let them work turning a big wheel that produces electricity for the rest of their miserable lives. If they ever get tired, there's a chair nearby just for that, though the chair is connected to the current.

[Admiral]

Take out the chair and stick with the wheel.

[Brian Ellis]

These fires apperantly were caused by political extremists pre government elections, they caught a few of them.

This is not certain, by any means. Some of the fires are accidental (e.g., the one started with an electric pylon blown down and the resultant spark igniting the tinder-dry vegetation). At least one was started by a 5-yo kid playing with matches and another by a family BBQ.

Amongst the known cases of arson, the majority have been started by copycat pyromaniacs, often firemen. Believe it or not, some have been started by members of NGOs protesting against the government policy of leaving forests unmanaged (lots of low brush under the trees). Probably most of the arson cases have been caused by property developers (there is a Greek law that says that official forest land has its categorisation removed after a burn and developers can then purchase the land and apply for a housing zone category: almost without doubt, all the fires within 50 km of Athens and Thessalonika are this type, as building land is very valuable there). Then, some may have a political destabilisation motive, but not necessarily by extremists but opposition parties wanting to destabilise Karamanlis (this may have the exact opposite effect.

IMHO, it is wrong to apportion the blame on one cause. No one has any idea, at this stage, of the whys and the wherefores and Greek papers and TV (sources of most media reports) exhibit the worst of sensationalism to sell their rubbish.

I know very well the problem. We have the same here. There was one small forest fire actually in our village a couple of weeks ago with ~1 km2 razed, happily no life lost and relatively little property damage. It came to within a few 100 m of our house and we were preparing to evacuate. Fortunately, for us, the strong wind was blowing it away from this direction. As we border on the forest, it could have been another story if the wind had changed. It is frightening. Last Friday, there was another km2 of forest destroyed in the next village, SW of here.

[Belwarrior]

Probably most of the arson cases have been caused by property developers (there is a Greek law that says that official forest land has its categorisation removed after a burn and developers can then purchase the land and apply for a housing zone category: almost without doubt, all the fires within 50 km of Athens and Thessalonika are this type, as building land is very valuable there).

i hope then something is done about this law.. maybe areas where forest was burned down should be re-forested

[Elie]

According to Greek news, the guys they caught were from various countries, Albania, Chec Republic and there are more.

Apperantly they were setting these fires off with some sort of explosion triggered by a call from a cellphone.
Now the fires are getting worse

We get a direct feed from Greece and my wife translates all the crap going on there.

[Jessterw]

For those who might not have a grasp of the scope...

http://www.wired.com/science/planetearth/news/2007/08/greece_fire

[ND66]

According to Greek news, the guys they caught were from various countries, Albania, Chec Republic and there are more.

Apperantly they were setting these fires off with some sort of explosion triggered by a call from a cellphone.
Now the fires are getting worse

We get a direct feed from Greece and my wife translates all the crap going on there.

I say you fight with a sword....... .

Our Pediatrician is Greek. She also went there 2 weeks ago for vacation.

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