The mayor in the crosshairs for the fire in Kythera

The July fire on Kythira, which burned down 10% of the island, brought the issue of responsibility for fire prevention and response to the forefront. Mayor Efstratios Charchalakis is at the center of allegations of negligence in fire safety, while the local community is dealing with serious losses. Documento presents evidence and allegations calling for an investigation into the causes of the disaster. You can read George Roussos’s report here: https://www.documentonews.gr/article/sto-stochastro-o-dimarchos-gia-ti-fotia-sta-kythira/ as well as below.

The mayor in the crosshairs for the fire in Kythera

Patras, August 13, 2025. The fire spread into the city center. The government, trapped in the delusion it had cultivated regarding the state apparatus’s preparedness, launched a fierce attack on Patras Mayor Kostas Peletidis. The minister responsible for Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Yiannis Kefalogiannis, in an attempt to sweep the government’s incompetence under the rug of black propaganda—incompetence that has burned more than 4 million stremmata since 2019—stated: «He proved himself unequal to the task.».

Thus, without any information regarding the responsibilities of the local government.

Thus, without any shame or restraint, the government tried to shirk its responsibilities and cover up its incompetence.

A small detail: the mayor of Patras is supported by the KKE (and by the entire community of Patras).

Kythira, July 26, 2025. The raging inferno burned 10% of the island (more than 28,000 stremmata). Forests, farmland, homes, and critical infrastructure fell victim to the delusion—cultivated by Kyriakos Mitsotakis’s government—that the state apparatus was prepared. The aircraft appeared for one hour and, without having contained the fire, left, resulting in the fire spreading and burning the island’s 10%. «The Canadairs came, dropped water for an hour, and left. Then the fire got out of control,» said Giorgos Kominos, the deputy mayor in charge, in a statement to ERT.

On July 28, the prime minister himself called Mayor Efstratios Charchalakis to find out the extent of the damage.

A minor detail: The mayor of Kythira, who has held office since 2014, is accused of acting as a New Democracy party leader rather than as a «servant of the local community’s interests.».

However, Eustr. Charchalakis, who is closely aligned with Kyriakos Mitsotakis, has proven himself unequal to the task, as he is accused of bearing heavy responsibility for the most devastating (even larger than the one in 2017) wildfire that broke out on the island.

The complaints

Kythira, April 30, 2025: The Local Civil Protection Operational Coordination Body (TESOPP) of the Municipality of Kythira is meeting with a single item on the agenda: «Preparations, Proposals, and Actions for the 2025 Fire Season.» The meeting is chaired by Eustr. Charchalakis. There, in a scathing speech, he denounced the fact that the Region of Attica is demanding the implementation of impractical solutions. «The decision by the Deputy Regional Governor for the Islands to ban access to forested areas is unenforceable,» he noted in this regard.

The next development came on Saturday, July 26. The General Secretariat for Civil Protection had classified Kythira as risk level 5, the highest category. Eustr. Charchalakis, who was accused of being the New Democracy party leader, was absent from Kythira.

The community of Kythira is in an uproar. This fire could have been prevented or contained if the preventive measures announced in writing at the regular meeting of the Kythira Municipal Council on April 30,2025 (Minutes No. 01/2025, ADA: RIXZOLPS-86PS) and the mayor’s proposal (Ref. No.: 1559/April 25, 2025). What is alleged not to have been done by the end of July?;

• Fire safety zones were planned but not implemented in 10 critical settlements (including Aroniadika and Drymonas, which were affected).

• The contract for the cleanup was «pending award» and had not been approved by the forestry office as of the day of the fire.

• The fire safety staff was reduced to five seasonal employees, covering 280 square kilometers, with limited duties.

• No aerial firefighting aircraft was on standby, even though it had been explicitly requested and deemed necessary.

• The budgeted fire safety expenditures (360,000 euros) were not allocated to prevention projects.

Funding

The Municipality of Kythira had secured 90,000 euros in funding from the Green Fund (a public entity supervised by the Ministry of Environment and Energy, funded by national and EU resources). These funds were to be allocated for the creation of new perimeter firebreaks in specific areas of the island. As alleged, the decision had been approved, the technical report had been drafted, but the project had likely neither been commissioned nor implemented. What would have happened? The devastating consequences would likely have been mitigated. In any case, the municipality is «concealing» which of these measures it has implemented—if any at all.

Moreover, on August 4, 2025—just a few days after the devastating fire— a contract was awarded directly—the favorite method of the «elite» of Mitsotakis’s bureaucratic state—to a private contractor for the clearing of fire safety zones. It is worth noting that two areas, Aroniadika and Drymonas, were severely affected by the devastating inferno.

All of this now constitutes a formal complaint and is being investigated by the Ombudsman. Ippolytos Prekas, a journalist from the island, filed a highly detailed report as early as August 14 and is calling for an investigation into who is responsible. Let us hope that the Greek Ombudsman, although an independent authority, will not act as the «independent» Greek judiciary usually does, whose credibility is being directly undermined by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office.