Skip to main content
The devastating forest fire in Greece was no ‘natural disaster’
Cuts to the fire service, firefighting planes grounded, water storage tanks in poor repair – it is decades of austerity that made the wildfire near Athens so deadly, says KEVIN OVENDEN
A firefighter sprays water on the fire in the town of Mati, east of Athens

“WORDS are nice … but I want him to tell me and the people who perished, our friends … whose fault it is, if not his.”

That is how one 79-year-old victim of the devastating fire that ripped through the Rafina area north-east of Athens last Monday responded to Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras’s belated acceptance of “political responsibility” on Friday. 

“How does he redeem this responsibility?” the pensioner continued. “What does political responsibility mean?”

The 95th Anniversary Appeal
Support the Morning Star
You have reached the free limit.
Subscribe to continue reading.
Similar stories
People sit along the edge of an abandoned swimming pool across from a tanker terminal along the port of Matanzas, Cuba, March 30, 2026
Features / 4 April 2026
4 April 2026

CLAUDIA WEBBE says the US is tightening the noose to destroy Cuban socialism — the need for immediate, international solidarity is urgent

CLIMATE CHANGE: Firefighters tackle a wildfire on Saddleworth Moor, Greater Manchester, June 2018
TUC Congress 2025 / 8 September 2025
8 September 2025

Since 2010, one in five firefighter jobs has disappeared alongside 30% funding cuts — all while climate breakdown brings record blazes and flooding. It’s time to fund our fire service properly, writes FBU general secretary STEVE WRIGHT

A volunteer firefighter sprays water with a hose as a wildfire burns in Rafina, east of Athens, Greece, July 3, 2025, with several houses destroyed by the fire in the area
Round-up / 4 July 2025
4 July 2025
shower
Books / 13 June 2025
13 June 2025

RON JACOBS welcomes a book that tells the story of the far right in Greece from the perspective of migrants