The Minister of National Defence Dimitris Avramopoulos attended the ceremony for the End of the Fire-fighting Period which was held today in the Air Force Support Command, Elefsina.
The ceremony was also attended by the Minister of Citizen Protection Nikos Dendias, the Chief of HAFGS Lieutenant General Evangelos Tournas, the Chief of the Hellenic Fire Service Lieutenant General Sotirios Georgakopoulos and the Secretary General of Civil Protection Patroklos Georgiadis.
During the ceremony Mr. Avramopoulos and Mr. Dendias made the following statements while addressing the personnel of the Air Force Support Command:
D. AVRAMOPOULOS: I would like to welcome the Minister for Citizen Protection, the Chief of the Hellenic Air Force and the Secretary General of Civil Protection in this modest and symbolic ceremony.
Minister, we are allies in this long lasting struggle. I would like to thank you for the excellent cooperation between the two ministries and the two bodies. Welcome.
Chief of the Hellenic Air Force, Commander, commanding officers, officers, NCOs, conscripts, dear civilian co-workers, it is sincerely a special pleasure and honour for me to share these moments with you today in this, as I said earlier, modest and symbolic ceremony which marks the end of this year’s fire-fighting period.
Among the great number of missions, operational and non-operational, which our Air Force assumes, fire-fighting is a part of its significant social contribution.
It is a contribution that enhances the feeling of security, of safety that every Greek citizen needs to be able to continue his peaceful and creative work undisturbed. And now this is more imperative than before. The Greek society despite the difficulties of the past should, most of all, feel safe and secure. And it is this feeling of safety and security that the country’s entire Armed Forces ensure.
The more than 2.500 flight hours, as we happened to hear earlier, which led to really excellent results under particularly difficult and dangerous circumstances which bring people and machines closer to their limits are an undoubted evidence that they worked hard this year too.
It is an effort that succeeded in an undoubtedly dire financial situation; in a situation which affects the personal revenues and the possibility of assets’ maintenance and availability as well.
I wish to convey you the gratitude, the acknowledgment and the public admiration of the government, the political leadership of the Ministry of National Defence and the entire Greek people as well who has always been provided – and nowadays even more – with reliable support by Greece’s Armed Forces.
Greece’s Armed Forces which are always helpful in difficult problems as well as a pillar of stability in the country and abroad.
I want to assure all cadres of our Air Force and, on the occasion of this ceremony, all cadres of the Armed Forces that we make a huge effort to overcome and solve the existent problems, whether they are financial or not.
I would also like, once more, to praise the excellent – I would even say exemplary – cooperation among our Air Force, the Hellenic Fire Service and the General Secretariat for Civil Protection, which always brings optimal results.
I would also like, on behalf of the Greek government and our Ministry, to express our gratitude to the personnel of the Fire Service who contributed significantly in any manner to the successful results of the fire-fighting operations during this year’s fire-fighting period.
Of course, this official ending ceremony of the fire-fighting period actually ends nothing. On the contrary, a new period of preparation for the next year begins for both personnel and assets.
I would like, finally, to express my honour, respect and acknowledgement to the personnel of the Air Force – but not only them – who gave their lives over the last decades that Greece has been many times threatened by fires which emerge across our country.
I wish that the next period will be even better than the last one. I wish that pilots and cadres will have safe flights; I hope that they and their families are healthy and sure that we will stand at their side, as representatives of the Greek state who publicly acknowledge their contribution.
May God keep you well. May He give you strength to accomplish your mission successfully when needed.
Thank you very much.
Ν. DENDIAS: Minister, at first, please, allow me to express you my warmest thanks. It is a special honour for me that I was invited here today, together with the Secretary General, the Chief and the personnel of the Fire Service, in this ceremony, to honour and thank everybody who contributed to this excellent fire-fighting period.
This is not, however, the only reason I wish to thank you for. Ladies and gentlemen, I am, chiefly, speaking of the statements made by the Minister of National Defence. Please, allow me to say a few words about this fire-fighting period which was really excellent.
In this period we managed to reduce by approximately 52% the extent of the areas burnt, although the number of fires that emerged was not significantly smaller.
A suspicious person might say that this means that the previous year, 2012, was really bad. This is not true. What we altogether achieved this year was to reduce the destruction by more than 50% and this in comparison to the average of the last fifteen years. And you have largely contributed to that.
Please, allow me to mention three little things which helped us attain this result. The first one is that the Fire Service started using again its helicopters which we not used over the last three years. This gave the coordinator the possibility to control the fire from above and helped us carry personnel on Super Pumas within 10 or 20 minutes after the fire had emerged. Thus, we had very short transfer time.
They also used 110 motorbikes which were already available and enabled them supervise forests and helped them find the optimal way of approach for fire vehicles that conducted fire-fighting operations in forests.
There was also one more simple thing; the connection with the subsidies database of OPEKEPE (Payment and Control Agency for Guidance and Guarantee Community Aid). In this way, one can find data about the property owners located in a wide extent around the fire area and thus reach faster conclusions on who was probably the arsonist, and thus, Minister, we have doubled the number of arsonists arrested.
Moreover, there was one more thing that directly related to our country’s Armed Forces and it is for this that I have to thank the Minister, Mr. Avramopoulos, and, through him, all of you: an very close cooperation which enabled us to supervise all areas of high fire hazard in the country, to send timely warnings and, as a result, to operate quickly.
In addition, I ought to express my warmest thanks to the pilots of Air Force assets because I am aware of the adverse conditions in which they operate. These aircraft or, at least, a type of them, has a damage rate that makes me take off my hat with respect to these people who fly these aircraft and provide these services to the community.
I have repeatedly expressed my gratitude to the Chief of HNDGS, the Chief of HAFGS and the Minister. It is for me a great honour that I have the opportunity to express my thanks, my gratitude and my respect to you in person.
I hope the next year will be as good as this year. And I wish health and happiness to you and your families.