Climate Change, If It Exists, Could Be Cleared as Suspect in Greek Forest Fires as Authorities Start Accusing, and Arresting, Arsonists

Deadly wildfires — fanned by the meltemi — are taking a vast toll on the landscape as authorities crack down on human culprits

AP/Thanassis Stavrakis
Smoke from a wildfire in the outskirts of Athens covers the sun as it sets over the Parthenon temple atop the ancient Acropolis, August 22, 2023. AP/Thanassis Stavrakis

ATHENS — Forest fires are raging in Greece, but tempers are flaring too. In a televised emergency briefing this week Greece’s minister of civil protection, Vassilis Kikilias, said that “arsonist scum are setting fires that are threatening forests, property and, most of all, human lives,” adding that “You are committing a crime against the country, you will not get away with it, we will find you, you will be held accountable.”

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