Training for 500 Fire Service specialists set to start

The training of 500 Hellenic Fire Service specialists is set to begin following their swearing in ceremony on Monday. The specialists will serve for seven years, with 440 designated as specialist firefighting personnel and 60 as scientific firefighting personnel specializing in forestry. They will be spread out to six different regions across Greece. The forest body is being set up as part of government efforts to effectively fight wildfires in the wake of the devastation wreaked last summer.

This new corps will be active in forests, in co-operation with foresters and scientific experts. They will not only serve during a crisis but throughout the year by contributing preventative projects. They will also be the vanguard in all efforts to tackle blazes as they will be transported by helicopter to the center of the fire.

According to information from the Ministry of Climate Change and Civil Protection available to Kathimerini, the new corps will be based in these six regions, but the units will be able to rapidly deploy anywhere in the country.

In addition to this new corps, the new plan for the Hellenic Fire Service calls for the operation of radar and drones equipped with special software developed by the Hellenic National Meteorological Service to locate potential areas of risk.