The least the state could have done – as a preventive measure and as a sign of its duty toward those who experienced the enormous tragedy of last year’s Mati wildfire – would have been to list the town as one of the areas that require particular attention in the Fire Service’s operational plan for 2019.

It is not only last year’s deadly fire that requires that the state adopt a different stance.

The forests of Agios Andreas and Nea Makri require intensive wildfire protection measures to avert yet another catastrophic blaze.

By all appearances the government has not learned its lesson.

It has not learned that the dangers of nature cannot be confronted with on-camera show conferences or with news conferences with painted wildfires, or with election ads with the disaster site and the ashes as a background. They cannot be confronted with communications ploys.

It requires planning, vigilance, and readiness.

What plan can be implemented when firefighting patrol cars are parked due to lack of personnel, as a related report confirms?

What readiness can be expected from services which are completely unprepared?

The government has an extremely limited amount of time at its disposal to address the obvious weaknesses of the state.

It must not waste that time with the pursuit of petty partisan games and vote-mongering, because that could yet again prove disastrous.

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