Residents of Porto Germeno are returning to their homes after the major fire that left behind incalculable damage, dozens of burned houses, and strong anger over the lack of prevention and a swift response. Giorgos and his mother describe the shock of the disaster, talk about lost memories, and call for accountability, while also signaling legal action ahead.

As their cars began approaching the village, a special fire department vehicle was removing a fire truck that had been completely burned just before the entrance to Prosili. So they stopped their cars on a clearing and, stunned, looked down at the scale of the destruction that had taken place.

“It was my summer house here. It’s a disgrace of theirs. It’s a shame because wildfires happen every year. This year, at the moment it started, it was 73. Greece is known for having a climate that’s vulnerable to wildfires. They keep talking to us about climate change. We’ve heard it again and again, we know it, and they’ve shown repeatedly that they don’t want to increase the Fire Service, they don’t care about doing anything about this issue, and they’re not interested in the environment,” says Giorgos, whose house in Porto Germeno, in the Aspra Spitia neighborhood, suffered extensive damage from the fire.

Giorgos stresses that it’s not only about material losses. “It’s not just that. It’s people’s lives, it’s experiences, it’s homes they’ve built, it’s the air we breathe, it’s all the things we consume. Our whole life is this thing. I don’t know when it will start to matter more than for them to make a bigger income themselves. I don’t have anything else to say, honestly. The whole landscape is like a cold shower, I can’t describe it any other way.”

As for the family home, he points out that “my grandfather built it. Since I was a baby I spent my whole summer here with our neighbors. We grew up together like one big family. Every summer we were here constantly, and I’ve seen my whole childhood burned. The roof has fallen in, everything inside has burned, windows have shattered. There’s no money to fix it. We don’t know what we’ll get as compensation. I don’t have anything to say. Honestly, shame on them, and if this doesn’t wake people up a little, I honestly don’t know what will.”

Giorgos’s mother, Athina, notes that “if the fire had been dealt with and contained at the start, when it began, because between seven and nine there was a two-hour window when the wind had dropped and a plane could have joined the helicopter to make some drops for two hours, or even one more hour, it would have been contained and wouldn’t have reached this size, and there wouldn’t be burned houses, because the fire came this far back in 2009 too, and thankfully because of the wind we were spared. But now, when a plane could have made the difference, it didn’t happen. That’s our complaint, and also the responsibility for the causes behind all of this won’t go unanswered, and we’ve all been in contact with each other and lawsuits will be filed, with everything that entails.”