Burglars targeted homes and businesses that suffered damage from the fire in Attica.
As reported by Star, a business owner saw a burglar stealing items from his yard via security camera and immediately called for police help. The man was identified, and a case was formed against him.
“They cut the wires from top to bottom and opened it. They went in to steal iron, copper, and many other things. They come to loot instead of helping,” said a resident to the same media outlet.
“On the first day of the fire, just as we took a couple of things to leave, I saw two climbing up onto the balcony,” mentioned another victim.
“Many Roma are coming now that the houses are abandoned, and they haven’t left anything. They break into houses and destroy everything,” said another resident of the affected areas.
One arrest for looting in the affected areas – “We went to help”
Police have already arrested a 46-year-old Roma on Mylo Potamou Street in Penteli, who was stealing anything he could from a burned house, while 17 more were taken in for questioning.
According to the same information, such incidents have been recorded in all fire-affected areas.
Meanwhile, on the day the fire was still burning, four Roma arrived by taxi in the northern suburbs and began to walk around the houses. However, police spotted them and brought them in for questioning. When asked why they took a taxi to the fire site, the four detained individuals emphasized: “We went to help, not to steal, officer.”
104 residences currently deemed unsuitable for use in the fire-affected areas of Attica
Since Tuesday (13/8), the teams from the General Directorate for the Restoration of Natural Disaster Effects (GDANDE) of the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection have been conducting daily inspections and assessments of building infrastructure in areas of Northern and Eastern Attica following the wildfires of August 11.
Specifically, the teams of GDANDE were activated under the guidance of the General Secretariat for the Restoration of Natural Disasters and State Aid, with more than 60 engineers conducting inspections in eight municipalities of Attica, having completed the majority of the inspection work, which will continue in the coming days in communication and coordination with property owners and the local municipalities.
Particularly, the inspections by the GDANDE teams took place in fire-affected areas of the municipalities of Vrilissia, Dionysus, Marathon, Pallini, Penteli, Rafina-Pikermi, Chalandri, and Oropos, in a framework of close cooperation with the municipalities, as the visits and inspections are based on guidance and information from the staff of the Local Government Organizations.
So far, in the above eight municipalities of Attica, a total of 184 inspections have been carried out on buildings, of which 158 are residences, 21 are warehouses, 2 are public buildings, and 3 are commercial spaces.
From these inspections, it has been determined that 104 residences are categorized as unsuitable for use and to be demolished (“red”) and temporarily unsuitable for use that require repair work (“yellow”), with the distribution being 40 and 64, respectively. Additionally, 54 residences are classified as suitable for use (“green”), with some possibly having minor damages.
The inspections will continue from the GDANDE teams in the coming days in Attica, in a framework of close collaboration with the municipalities, which are collecting citizen requests.
Finally, regarding the work of the State Aid Committees of the Region of Attica, which are also in the field conducting inspections on businesses, 30 cases of businesses affected by the fire have been recorded so far.