Obligatory clearing of land before the no-fires season (issued by Municipality of Kissamos, Civil Protection)

As announced by the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection for the year 2025, owners, custodians, usufructuary and lessees of plots of land and other uncovered areas have the obligation to clean them by April 30. According to the 20 / 2024 Fire Ordinance to prevent the risk of fire. This obligation applies to all owners, occupiers, usufructuaries, tenants and sub-tenants of building plots and other unoccupied spaces and to plots located in:

a) areas within approved planning schemes,

b) areas within settlement boundaries without approved planning schemes,

c) areas which are within a radius of 100 metres from the boundaries of 1 and 2 above, as notified by the responsible forestry services.

The plots must be kept clean throughout the fire season, i.e. from May 1 to October 31.Owners  are also obliged to make a declaration on the relevant platform here, after cleaning. 
The fines in all previous cases start from € 1000 and in the case of a false cleaning declaration they reach € 54,000.

Clearing procedure

The required clearing comprises:

1) Cutting down and removing dry and broken trees and branches, as well as branches which are in direct contact with buildings.

2) Removal of flammable vegetable matter which is on the surface of the ground such as for example leaf litter, dried weeds and dead branches.

3) Trimming the base of tree trunks and increasing the height of the trimmed area in accordance with the age and type of tree.

4) Thinning out of ground cover plants.

5) Removal of any other abandoned inflammable or explosive materials, objects and rubbish.

6) Safe collection and removal of all the products of clearing.

Fulfilment of obligations
1. Those listed above, owners, occupiers, usufructuaries,… are required to submit a declaration by April 30th of each year to the National Register of preventive fire protection measures… through the electronic platform of the ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, as regards the fulfilment of their obligations for the fire protection of 
their properties. …
2. In the event of failure to submit the declaration of clearance by the deadline, it is assumed that the responsible person agrees to the clearance of their plot being undertaken by the relevant municipality.
3. The owners, occupiers, usufructuaries, tenants and sub-tenants of the plots referred to  above , a – c,  must agree to and display tolerance towards regular or spot checks by the officers of the relevant municipality and the local Fire Service.

Sources:
Press release of the Municipality Kissamos – Civil Protection, (11th April)
Kolymbari Courier
Photo credit. protothema.gr

The original announcement may be found on the website of the Official Gazette here.

A more accessible version has been posted by the Greek Institute for Health and Safety at Work, here