Devastating Greek wildfires stoke fear of faulty power lines

Weeks before a devastating wildfire broke out on the power grid of a private wind farm in southern Greece in late July, nearby residents received a stark warning of the risks posed by the country’s electricity network in high summer. A smaller blaze that burned about 12 acres near the village of Agios Vasileios on June 27 was likely caused by a short circuit 150 metres (490 feet) away on the same network, according to a confidential investigative report conducted by the fire department and seen by Reuters. The earlier incident, confirmed by three residents and a local official, “constitutes a serious indication of the existence of recurring problems in the operation and/or condition of the specific network,” the report said. Another devastating summer of wildfires has reignited a debate about the safety of Greece’s power networks, especially its cables, which face intense heat and gale force winds and often criss-cross rural areas of scrub or forest that haven’t seen rain in months. The fire department has linked faulty power lines to two of Greece’s biggest fires this year: the Agios Vasileios blaze that eventually burned through forest, olive groves and residential areas near Athens and resulted in the death of two firefighting helicopter crew members in a mid-air collision; and another in Crete, which also killed two firefighters and forced the evacuations of holidaymakers at the height of the summer season. Last year, faulty power lines were also found to be the leading cause of major wildfires, overshadowing arson and negligence, fire brigade data seen exclusively by Reuters showed. In Greece, details on what triggers wildfires are generally not published and the fire department did not respond to requests for comment. “We live on a bomb,” said environmental lawyer Antonis Sifakis. “Overland cables must stop.” YEARS OF UNDERINVESTMENT IN POWER GRID Greece’s power distribution network suffered from years of underinvestment during its 2009-2018 debt crisis. Each year, as Greece endures the effects of hotter summers and more erratic rainfall that scientists link to climate change, public power distributor HEDNO comes under scrutiny. Data from Greece’s Arson Crimes unit show that suspected electricity network failures have accounted for about 75% of the land burned in Greece this year. A resident runs as flames approach a house in Loumpa, as wildfires hit West Attica HEDNO disputes that figure and says historically “well below 1%” of fires involve the distribution network. HEDNO has increased annual investments from about €150 million ($173 million) in 2019 to around €800 million today, a spokesperson told Reuters. It now lays around 1,800 kilometres (1,118 miles) of network underground annually, nearly eight times the 2019 rate. Still, the task ahead is gigantic — HEDNO’s distribution network is 250,000 km long. “The transformation … cannot be completed overnight,” the spokesperson said. However, “Greece’s electricity distribution network is a fundamentally different infrastructure compared with six years ago.” WIND FARM IDENTIFIED AS SOURCE OF FIRE The power lines at the Mavro Spithari wind farm outside Agios Vasileios are privately owned and not part of HEDNO’s network. But they have also raised safety questions. Strong northerly winds were blowing on the morning of July 31 and the authorities rated the area west of Athens as “very high” on the fire hazard index. The report said that wind likely blew sparks from a short circuit, or from oscillating power lines. Within hours, a whole swath of forest and residential areas was ablaze. The cause was similar to the nearby June 27 fire, which the fire department report said may have resulted from a short circuit caused by contact between two conductors. It added that the wind farm’s network was not properly maintained, including clearing ground around electricity poles. Three people were arrested in relation to the July fire. Interphoton Investment Group, which owns the wind farm, declined to comment on the cause of either fire while it was under investigation. Firefighters work on a burning area near Loumpa “The possibility of a fire occurring had never crossed our minds. It would therefore be entirely unreasonable to suggest that we had contemplated, let alone accepted, the possibility of a fire occurring,” Interphoton’s Deputy Chief Executive Officer Eleni Zafeiratou told Reuters. LOCALS DEVASTATED BY FIRE The wind farm sits on a ridge above Agios Vasileios overlooking the blue waters of the Gulf of Corinth. The hillside below the farm is now blackened by fire; power cables lie tangled amid trees that have been reduced to charred stumps. Locals, who have long opposed the wind farm on environmental grounds, are crushed. “My children grew up here, this is where we played, where we went for walks, where we gathered wild greens,” said local resident Agathi Porfyri. She says that they were lucky during the June 27 fire. The wind wasn’t as strong that day and fire-fighting planes were able to put it out. “It was only a matter of time before another fire broke out,” Porfyri said. “I don’t feel safe anywhere.”