The Greek government responds to criticism over forest fires

It has spent €321mn maintaining roads and firebreaks, and clearing public land of dead vegetation, and those measures in combination with responsible land-ownership seem to have been effective

A map of the burnt area generated by the Aristotelian University of Thessaloniki and provided by the Forest Service

The Greek government last week marshalled satellite imagery to demonstrate that its policies prevented what could have been a much more destructive fire in eastern Attica on August 11-13.

The fire burned 10,400 hectares, from Varnavas in the north to Drafi and Pendeli in the south.

It could have been worse, said the government, producing satellite pictures showing that in Marathon, Nea Makri and Dionysos, where homeowners had cleaned their land of dead vegetation, the fire stopped at the edge of inhabited areas and didn’t burn homes.