00:00Europe's wildfire threat is continuing to shift as the blazes are forcing evacuations
00:04from southeast English to the Greek island of Crete,
00:07while cooler weather is helping firefighters gain some ground in southwest France.
00:12Climate change, of course, is playing a huge role
00:14as it's increasing the risk of dangerous weather on the world's fastest warming continent.
00:18With forecasts for more hot, dry conditions in the weeks ahead,
00:21they raise the prospect of the fire season stretching well into the fall.
00:25We're joined now by Bloomberg Athens Deputy Bureau Chief Paul Tugwell.
00:28Paul, thank you very much. Thanks for your coverage as well over these last few weeks.
00:31And let me just start by asking you for the state of play.
00:34I know that the winds had been terrible in Greece in recent days.
00:37That made it difficult for aircraft to get to some of these fires.
00:40Has that subsided, and what's the status of the many fires that have engulfed parts of Greece?
00:45It hasn't subsided. In fact, it's got worse.
00:47We're having a very, very difficult day today.
00:49In fact, before I joined you, the climate crisis and civil protection minister
00:56put out a statement saying that the number of fires combined with the gale force winds
01:01and the dry conditions has brought the state's fire fighting mechanism to its limits.
01:07He pointed out that the problem is that because of strong winds, gale force indeed,
01:13planes are experiencing and helicopters turbulence, which makes it very difficult to fly.
01:18But also it makes it very dangerous for them to scoop down either into the sea or lakes
01:24to pick up water to try and help firefighters in their efforts to tackle the blazes.
01:30The worst fire today is in an area called Duyotea, which is in central southern Greece.
01:36And that started yesterday and carried on burning through the night.
01:39And it's spreading east into the region of Attica, which is the home region of Athens itself,
01:46and has brought about impressive scenes of destruction, pristine pine forests,
01:53but also houses burnt, stores, creating a very difficult situation today, indeed.
02:01Paul, as I'm talking to you, we're going to pull up a map that you can access in the terminal
02:04of kind of all the wildfire hotspots throughout the region.
02:07And I apologize for what could be a stupid question, but David and I both grew up out west.
02:11And I know in the U.S., when you have fires, obviously each state has capacities and resources
02:16that they can shift.
02:17Canada often helps with these wildfires.
02:19In Europe, what are the resources like?
02:21Is it mostly left to individual countries because other countries are battling their own issues?
02:25Is there collaboration?
02:27Is there some sort of EU firefighting task force that they can send in to bolster these local community teams?
02:34How is this working?
02:35Is it working?
02:37There is indeed, at the European Union level, a mechanism whereby countries that are in need of help,
02:43we saw this last week in Spain, because they have a particularly bad situation,
02:47can call on the European Union to ask other member states to provide aircraft,
02:55either helicopters or airplanes.
02:57Greece sent, as an example, two Canadair firefighting aircraft to Spain last week.
03:04Yes, each country has its own fleet.
03:06And if that fleet can cope with the situation in its own country, that suffices.
03:11But if not, then there is help throughout the bloc to help one another's countries.
03:17Christina, drawing that parallel to wildfires here in the U.S. with geography is decidedly different.
03:21And I wonder if you could talk a bit about that, the way that Greece is arrayed, what the geography
03:26is like,
03:26and how, indeed, that's complicating these efforts.
03:29Indeed.
03:30Today, the biggest fire that I was mentioning is in an area that's mountainous, forested area.
03:36There are small villages and settlements here and there that are difficult to get to because roads are only single
03:43-lane highways.
03:44They're not very wide.
03:46That makes it difficult for ground forces to enter.
03:50But it's also more difficult for aircraft to help firefighters tackle these flames.
03:58Sometimes the fire will be in an area that's easy to access.
04:01But when it's not as today, then that's why, combined with the high winds, we're seeing such a disastrous situation.
04:07It's harder to deal with.
04:10Well, obviously, there's an enormous human toll and emotional toll.
04:13But as with these fires in the U.S., there's also a really big economic toll,
04:17especially when it comes to insurance and going forward in some of these areas.
04:20We have some sound we want to play for you.
04:21We've put a whole, a lot of measures in place in order to help the people with fast claims payments,
04:30with relocations and simplification of the procedures.
04:34Obviously, the question will come, how much will this all cost?
04:38But this is far too early because, you know, these have just happened.
04:43If you go back over the last three, four years, we have had many of these events.
04:48And all of these events, yes, have touched us, but have touched us in a way that we have always
04:54well managed and absorbed.
04:57That was Thomas Bilbert.
04:58He's the AXA CEO.
05:00But I know it's early to talk about, are people concerned about the recovery efforts, how that's going to happen,
05:05insurance payouts, given how many of these fires have happened and how frequently?
05:08It seems like almost every summer now.
05:10Well, in Greece, it's compulsory to have insurance against fires for properties.
05:15It's while fires aren't new to Greece, it's just the situation is that we're seeing more of them and for
05:19a longer period of the year because of climate change.
05:22But as it's compulsory in Greece, insurance companies are used to having to deal with claims for fire damage.
05:30I would imagine going forward, as we see more fires, you're going to have maybe higher premiums as part of
05:35your insurance policy to insure against fires.
05:38But based on historical data, once a fire has subsided, the state steps in and assesses the damage of properties.
05:48And according to the level of the damage, insurance companies have to react either quick or take longer to make
05:56payments to people who have seen their properties burnt.
05:59And according to the level of theacher 분들은, you'll have to look at the rules.
05:59So if you'll have a product of legalmerality patterns.
06:00So then the rules are very little because of right, the rules estructurales versus some of the
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