GREECE WILDFIRES USAID SITUATION REPORT 2 - SECOND BURNED

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 04 ATHENS 002143

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SUBJECT: GREECE WILDFIRES USAID SITUATION REPORT 2 - SECOND BURNED
AREAS EMERGENCY RESPONSE TECHNICAL TEAM VISIT

REFS: A) ATHENS 1687 B) ATHENS 1700 C) ATHENS 1707 D)ATHENS 1800


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Summary
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1. The 2007 wildfire season in Greece was the worst on record,
killing 76 people, destroying nearly 3,000 buildings, and burning
327,000 hectares on Evia Island, Crete and the Western Peloponnese.
The Greek Ministries of National Economy and Agricultural
Development estimated that the total damage to the agriculture
sector alone may exceed EURO 1.5 billion (more than USD 2.1
billion).


2. On August 27, U.S. Embassy Charge d'Affaires a.i. Thomas
Countryman declared a disaster as a result of the wildfires. In
response, USAID's Office of U.S. Foreign Disaster Assistance
(USAID/OFDA) provided more than $750,000 in emergency relief
supplies and committed an additional $1.35 million to the U.S.
Department of Agriculture Forest Service (USFS) International
Programs Office through the Disaster Assistance Support Program
(DASP) for fire fighting equipment and technical assistance to
support the GoG's fire management and disaster response
capabilities.


3. According to the second U.S. technical team, which traveled to
Greece in October 2007, some GoG agencies and Greek organizations
have capacity to obtain remote sensing (RS) data, but do not appear
to have the ability to process it into secondary burn severity
models. The team further noted that minimal coordination and
communication mechanisms exist among GoG ministries, within the
community of public and private organizations addressing
fire-related issues, and between national, regional, and local
responders. Overall disaster response systems could be strengthened
through Incident Command System (ICS) trainings. In addition,
public awareness on wildfires can be further strengthened. (End
Summary)

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U.S. Technical Assistance and Cooperation
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4. At the GoG's request, and in cooperation with the U.S. Embassy
in Athens, USAID/OFDA deployed a six-person interagency technical
team from September 2 - 9 to assess the impact of the wildfires,
evaluate potential hazards created by newly burned terrain, and
identify technical cooperation possibilities with the GoG to address
the current emergency and longer term wildfire management. Noting
steep and potentially unstable slopes in many burned areas of the
Peloponnese, the team recommended follow-on evaluations of landslide
and flooding hazards in fire-affected areas, specifically through
the preparation of burn severity maps based on remote sensing and
geographic information systems (GIS) data (REFTEL).


5. Between September 9 and October 14, USFS technical team members
worked closely with the USFS Remote Sensing Applications Center
(RSAC),and the U.S. Geological Survey Earth Resource Observation
and Science Center, to obtain pre- and post-burn satellite imagery
(LANDSAT) of wildfire-affected areas of Greece. Following up on
interest expressed by GoG officials, RSAC processed this imagery and
developed burn severity maps for most of the wildfire-affected areas
in Greece.


6. From October 13 to 26, a second USAID/OFDA and USFS team traveled
to Greece to demonstrate how the satellite-derived images and burn

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severity models could be used to identify areas at highest risk for
subsequent flooding, landslides, and debris flows. This information
could then be used to prioritize GoG response efforts and resources.
To accomplish this task, the team traveled to Olympia, in the
western Peloponnese region, where many of the most severe fires
occurred.


7. The U.S. team spent seven days in Olympia, Ilia Prefecture,
working with four Greek Forestry officials from national and
prefecture offices to assess newly generated flood, landslide, and
soil erosion risks in the Kladeos River watershed. (Note: Greek
officials initially focused on Ilia, as the region suffered the
majority of damage with roughly 43 percent of the region's forest
lost to the fires. The Kladeos watershed site, within Ilia, was
then chosen by Greek officials due to its proximity to Ancient
Olympia, an international cultural treasure situated at the
confluence of the Kladeos and Alpheios rivers. End Note.)


8. The U.S. Team shared USFS Burned Area EmergencyResponse (BAER)
assessment tools and processe, which included identifying values at
risk, field validation of burn severity mapping, information
integration with locally available topographical and geological
data, slope stability and erosion modeling, high risk area
identification, and possible treatment options.


9. Following the case study, the U.S. team and Greek Forestry
officials jointly presented their findings in Patras to
representatives from the office of the Secretary General of the
Periphery of Western Greece, as well as to officials responsible for
the construction, maintenance, and funding of public works projects
in Western Greece. In Athens, the U.S. team also presented findings
to the Deputy Minister of Rural Development and Food, the Director
General from the Greek Forestry Service Department, and other
technical representatives from the Greek Forestry Service.


10. In addition to discussion with Greek Forestry officials, the
team also met with representatives of the GoG General Secretariat
for Civil Protection, Department of Emergency Planning; Olympia
Hellenic Fire Brigade representatives; staff from local
non-governmental organizations (NGOs); and geological experts from
the local polytechnic university.

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Findings and Recommendation
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Remote Sensing Imagery and GIS


11. Finding: Greek Forest Service counterparts were interested in
the BAER team's Burn Severity mapping process, particularly the
speed with which these maps can be generated to help prioritize
areas, and expressed interest in building local capacity to generate
such maps. In addition to training on how to process these maps,
the U.S. technical team noted that the GoG faces larger
institutional challenges in building overall remote sensing
capacity.


12. The U.S. team determined that GoG agencies and other Greek
organizations have access to RS and GIS maps but do not have
formalized relationships with either national or European agencies
for processing the data for further image analysis. Meeting
participants also noted a lack of coordination for sharing GIS and
RS information among various GoG ministries and between national,
local, and academic institutions. In addition, meeting participants
noted an age gap in the GoG's attitudes toward new technologies,
with junior officials more open to new technologies, such as GIS and

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RS, than senior GoG officials. The U.S. team was impressed with the
GIS capacity of individual GoG officials, some of whom were
self-taught, and were overall convinced that Greece has the capacity
to obtain, process, and utilize post-fire imagery if it supports its
employees in training, software, and hardware.


13. Recommendation: Remote sensing technological transfer is a
possible collaborative opportunity but would require a commitment
from the Greek government to further support GIS and RS capacity
building in order for the maps and data to have an impact in
national- and field-based decision making.

Post Burn Treatments


14. Findings: The U.S. team noted that representatives in most of
the fire-affected areas have previous experience with wild fires and
flood-management and have developed methods of addressing post-fire
risks and flood hazards, such as installing river level sensors to
warn of possible floods. The technical assistance team observed
that the two most immediate post fire treatments used in Greece are
log erosion barriers (LEB) and check dams. These techniques are
used in the United States, but sparingly. The Kladeos Watershed
case study exposed the Greek participants to additional treatments,
including mulching, debris dams, and debris risers. In
post-workshop briefings, the Greek Forestry officials recommended
further exploration of these treatments, in particular investigating
mulching.


15. Recommendations: USFS can provide further information on
mulching and other treatments that may be appropriate for Greece. A
complementary monitoring program could be developed to assess the
effectiveness of new or ongoing treatments.

Incident Command Systems and Overall Coordination


16. Findings: Discussions in both Athens and the field reiterated
a finding from the first U.S. technical team mission to Greece:
coordination and clarification of roles and responsibilities during
fire suppression activities could be improved. The current mission
noted coordination and communication issues also exist during post
fire assessment activities. Dialogue between the prefectures, the
Ministry of Interior, the Hellenic Fire Brigade, and the Greek
Forestry Service could be strengthened, as could the dialogue among
different GoG ministries.

Fire Suppreon Tactics


17. FindQade, who had primQoG interest was non-committal. During the second team
visit, GoG officials communicated that the GoG would be interested
in exploring fire-suppression tools, such as fire retardant.


18. Recommendations: USFS should continue its dialogue with fire
fighting units to explore further fire tactical trainings and use of
fire retardant.

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Conclusion
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19. The US Technical Team is preparing a final report that will be
distributed back to GoG agencies and the U.S. Embassy in Athens to

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help outline possible next step activities.

COUNTRYMAN