Volunteer firefighters on year-round duty east of Athens

A group of volunteer firefighters are pictured in front of their fire station at Neos Voutzas, east of Athens, ahead of the onset of the severe weather system dubbed Ballos. The 30-strong association, created in the wake of the 2005 wildfire, operates in coordination with the civil protection authorities and the fire service and is now active year-round as climate change has increased the frequency of extreme weather events. Their equipment, including five fire trucks, has been donated by the German nongovernmental organization Safers. They regret that the experience of the deadly 2018 fires was not followed by a rise in membership numbers. [Nikos Kokkalias]