Greek wildfires and electrical infrastructure investigations

Wildfires in Greece have caused significant damage to electrical infrastructure and local settlements, leading to investigations into the role of power lines.

In the Argolis region, a wildfire damaged power lines and electrical installations. During restoration efforts by the state electricity operator DEDDIE, a worker was injured in the village of Fihtia after being crushed by a falling burning tree trunk.

In the Sivri area of Halkidiki, a wildfire believed to have been caused by a tree falling onto power lines burned approximately 3,500 acres, representing about 1% of the Kassandra peninsula. The blaze destroyed eight houses, several vehicles, and a biological treatment plant, while also damaging local pine forests and reaching the settlements of Fourka and Sivri. High winds reaching 8 Beaufort are believed to have caused wires to spark and ignite dry vegetation. Following the incident, two DEDDIE contractors voluntarily presented themselves to a prosecutor in Polygyros and were released pending the completion of the investigation.

Expanding the scope of legal scrutiny, the Head of the Thessaloniki Court of Appeal, Leonidas Nikolopoulos, has ordered a preliminary investigation into whether faults or maintenance issues within the DEDDIE electrical grid contributed to recent fires in Thessaloniki. This inquiry follows reports and social media footage, such as a video from Evosmos, which appears to show sparks falling from electrical cables onto dry vegetation. Prosecutors are examining if infrastructure and maintenance protocols could be considered a criminal factor. This comes as preliminary data from the Arson Crimes Directorate suggests that fires linked to electrical networks may account for a significant portion of the land area destroyed by wildfires in Greece during the current period.