It is announced that today, the 3rd of September 2007, ground forces, air means and machinery have been allocated to the appropriate services of the General Secretariat for Civil Protection, to face the on going fires all over the country.

     The Armed Forces responding to their role of contribution to fire fighting, fulfilled 100 % of all  requests submitted by the authorities involved, allocating the following personnel and means :

• Prefecture of Argolis               :    30  persons
• Prefecture of Arkadia              :   161 persons
• Prefecture of Ilia                      :   390 persons
• Prefecture of Corinth               :     23 persons
• Prefecture of Lakonia              :     42 persons
• Prefecture of Messinia            :      81 persons
• Prefecture of Imathia               :     65  persons
• 368 mounted patrols for forest fire protection with 1.226 persons
• 575 persons (the 596th  Airborn Infantry Battalion,  an Engineers Company and a Military Police Platoon) as reinforce
• 2 chainsaw platoons (60 persons) with 6 more Platoons (180 persons) in radiness, with a total of 90 chainsaws
• TOTALLY : 2.258 persons
• Surveillance flights for forest fire protection : 22 exits with 67 flight hours
• 12 firefighting aircraft CL-215 (13/11) and CL-415 (8/8), which conducted 21 sorties with 51  flight hours, and 420 water-bomb drops, equal to 2.730 tons of water (91%  availability of air means)
• international fire fighting aircrafts (2French CL-415) : 4 sorties with 12 flight hours
• 4 CHINOOK helicopters
• 9 UH-1H
• 2 U-17 aircraft
• 4 Super Pumas
• 1 P-3B aircraft
• 2 AB-212 helicopters
• 4 Ambulances
• 40 Engineers earth moving equipments (bulldozers,  leveling graders, loaders, dumpers etc)
• also buses, fire fighting vehicles, water carriers, Steyer vehicles, generator units, and other equipment, as requested by the General Secretariat for Civil  Protection
• 17 veterinaries have been forwarded to the Prefectures of Messinia, Ilia and Arcadia
• readiness for immediate delivery of 85 tons of food supplies to assist the fire afflicted population

     Finally, it should be noted that additional forces and equipment remain in full readiness, in order to intervene and contribute to the  fire fighting, when called upon.         
               
                                  LTC Charalambos  Laloussis 
                                       HNDGS Spokesman