Is Europe ready for Gavriil Xanthopoulos' hopeful vision on wildfire management?

Hope after the Athens fire - How to make our landscapes more fire resilient and organise firefighting better around wildfires.

When a massive wildfire struck Athens, it threatened the very institution that had been advocating for wildfire mitigation reforms for years: the National Observatory of Athens (NOA).

Earlier this year, I visited Athens and met with several people from NOA. It was my first time in a major European capital where the threat of wildfires was tangible within the city itself.

Only a few months later, this threat became a harsh reality. The beautiful Mount Pentelicus, towering over the city’s northeast, caught fire. I decided to reach out to a few people and take stock of the situation: how had this event affected them?

Here’s one conversation I had with Dr. Gavriil Xanthopoulos, Research Director of Forest Fires at the Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems of the Hellenic Agricultural Organisation - DIMITRA.

What happened during the Athens fire?

The fire spread rapidly, with spotting almost immediately. While there isn't much publicly available information on how the firefighting services deployed their resources, it's known that there was a strong initial attack, with the first aerial water drop occurring within five minutes.

The priority was to extinguish the fire and protect homes. Despite these efforts, due to the conditions, the fire spread quickly, reaching the borders of Penteli and Nea Makri.

The fire advanced into urban areas via dry riverbeds, rich in vegetation. Because of this unexpectedly deep urban spread, the government drafted an action plan that included clearing vegetation from these riverbeds. This decision has far-reaching ecological implications, for example in mitigation of climate extremes and nesting of birds, so caution should be exercised. 

What could have gone better in the response, from your perspective?

Before 1998, the Forest Service was responsible for managing forest fires, while urban firefighters provided support. The two services operated on different radio frequencies, and since the Forest Service typically arrived first, tasks were naturally divided:  the Forest Service managed the fire's spread, asking the urban firefighters to protect homes and settlements. This system worked better than what we have today.

Today, it’s the urban firefighting service carry the mandate of fighting forest fires. They have a clear doctrine: protect homes and lives. The environment is a much lesser priority. After the tragic 2018 fires near Mati, where 102 people lost their lives, the policy became even more focused on evacuating homes, regardless of whether they were defensible or not. The priority became getting people out. Then they have to protect a large number of homes, often at the expense of fighting the spreading fire.  

When we met in Athens, you shared a memorable story about vines. Could you share it again?

Instead of sending bulldozers or graders twice a year to clear the vegetation for firebreaks, which is costly, causes erosion, and offers no economic benefit, we can create beautiful and productive firebreaks.

There’s ancient wisdom that vines, orchards, and olive groves act as natural firebreaks, especially if they’re irrigated and cleared of dead material. These areas resist fire well and could serve as tactical points for controlled burns to combat wildfires.

A wildfire approaches a vineyard near Nemea, Greece. Photo: Evangelos Bougiotis

This approach not only reduces the need for costly interventions but also provides economic value. Firebreaks can generate income and create jobs in rural areas that are in decline.

I’ve proposed that the government rent out lands on 30- to 50-year contracts to locals, who would receive subsidies to maintain vineyards or olive groves. The key condition would be that the land is kept clean of fire-prone vegetation during the fire season.

What response have you received from policymakers?

Unfortunately, there’s been little to no response. Despite publishing this proposal in major newspapers and presenting it at conferences, it hasn’t gained traction.

I’ve also suggested reinstating forest fire specialists within the Forest Service. They simply know their forests better than urban firefighters, who spend the majority of their time on urban affairs.

How many people would need to be hired, and what would it cost?

In the 1990s, the Forest Service employed around 4,600 people. Today, that number is less than 3,000, with no new hires since 2004. Although the government has promised to hire 500 new foresters over the last three years, they’re still struggling to fulfill this commitment.

I’ve proposed hiring an additional 200 forest fire specialists in the Forest Service across the country, which would cost approximately €10.5 million per year. This is a fraction of the €145 million spent annually on aerial resources firefighting in Greece. This doesn’t mean we should do less of the one, but for sure it means we need to do more of the other.

What else can be done to make Greece’s landscape more fire-resistant?

Across Europe, the focus has shifted heavily toward Civil Protection, which has become a large industry designed to absorb funding.

The primary initiative I’m working on now is ResAlliance, an EU-funded project with 16 partners across the Mediterranean that aims to promote bottom-up initiatives for building fire-resilient landscapes. When we find successful approaches, we try to scale them.

The key lies with the people. However, the countryside is losing its population, and the position of farmers is precarious. A fire-resilient landscape depends on a thriving rural population. When farmers can no longer make a living, the land is abandoned, becoming more fire-prone.

Which European country inspires you?

Portugal has made significant progress. They’ve started listening to people in the forestry sector and are placing more emphasis on prevention. However, a challenge in Portugal is that most of the forested land is owned by smallholders, making coordination more difficult.

Should we make more use of prescribed burning and, if so, how can we make people more accustomed to it?

Yes! We need to legalize it in Greece, identify the best ways to use it (where when, how, who) and examine the degree to which we can empower (after training) local communities and practitioners in the process. Local communities need to be part of the solution.

What role do you see for technology?

Technology should be developed in collaboration with people in the field. Technological tools are often build based in response to a non-realistic scenario of how the fire management organization can use them. For example, although there are more advanced fire behavior prediction models, some firefighters still rely on older methods because they know and trust them.

Whatever is built should enhance the capabilities of the experienced forest firefighter, not try to replace him.

Gavriil Xanthopoulos is Research Director at the Institute of Mediterranean Forest Ecosystems of the Hellenic Agricultural Organisation - DIMITRA.

Check out ResAlliance to learn more about bottom-up approaches to wildfire resilience.

https://www.resalliance.eu