Beekeeping deputy mayor suspected of causing Corinthia wildfire fined
A beekeeper – and deputy mayor – suspected of accidentally starting the four-day blaze that destroyed some 6,500 hectares and claimed the lives to two people in Corinthia, in the Peloponnese, has been fined 3,000 euros and the case against him will be forwarded to judicial authorities, the fire service has said.
The beekeeper is the deputy mayor with responsibility for civil protection issues in the Municipality of Evrostina, where the fires broke out.
He was smoking the hives to harvest their honey, despite a civil protection warning against such activity due to the high wildfire risk (level four) in the Rozena area on Sunday.
The fire service’s arson crimes directorate said it issued the administrative fine. Judicial authorities will now be asked if he is responsible for committing arson through negligence.
Reports say the beekeeping deputy mayor initially denied he was smoking his beehives. However, a local resident came forward and said he had seen the deputy mayor smoking his beehives, some 200-250 meters from where the fire stated.
Hundreds of firefighters, assisted by waterbombing planes and volunteers, have made significant progress in containing the deadly forest blaze.
The fire service said the fire, which killed two local residents Sunday, is receding, with firefighting forces focusing on putting out scattered smaller blazes within the devastated area.
Some 570 firefighters were working Wednesday, along with 160 fire trucks and 11 aircraft. These include three from Italy and Croatia, sent after Greece requested help from its fellow European Union members.
More than half a dozen villages were ordered evacuated as a precaution between Sunday and Tuesday, although firefighters were able to keep the flames at bay outside them. Several outlying buildings have reportedly been damaged, and a historic church in the area was gutted.
Also Wednesday, the fire service said another forest fire broke out in the Peloponnese west of Corinthia, in the mountainous Kalavryta area. More than 40 firefighters and four aircraft were battling the blaze. [Kathimerini, AP]
