A Greek investigating magistrate has ordered the pre-trial detention of the mayor of Stylida over the wildfire that destroyed thousands of hectares of forest west of Athens. Ioannis Apostolou was remanded in custody on August 7 along with a second suspect.
Apostolou, elected mayor of the port town in Phthiotis, central Greece, in 2023, owns the construction firm that built the overhead line carrying power from a private five-turbine wind farm to the national grid. Investigators concluded that oscillating conductors on that line threw sparks into dry vegetation.
The blaze began on July 31 near Agios Vasileios in the Boeotia region, at a spot known as Mavro Spithari. Strong winds pushed it over the southern slopes of Mount Kithairon and into western Attica, forcing evacuations around the town of Megara.
About 200 homes were damaged or destroyed in the coastal settlement of Porto Germeno. Roughly 14,400 hectares had burned by the time the fire was declared under control on August 5.
Two aircrew, a Danish pilot and a Greek coordinator, died on August 2 when their firefighting helicopters collided over the fire zone. Judicial sources have indicated that further charges could follow.
Prosecutors have filed four felony counts and one misdemeanour against the two men. These include forest arson with possible intent causing extensive destruction and danger to human life, damaging public utility infrastructure and destroying property used for the public benefit.
Both could face more than 10 years in prison if convicted. The second suspect is the electrical engineer who designed and supervised the transmission project.
Police have separately sought the owner of the wind farm company. Hellenic Fire Service investigators found a fallen wooden pole and lengths of conductor on the burnt ground, with heat damage that appeared to predate the blaze.
A thermal imaging inspection on June 20 had recorded unusually high temperatures at two points where the underground cable meets the overhead line. One of those points was close to where the fire started.
A smaller blaze broke out at almost the same location in late June, burning a limited area before crews contained it. The company repaired the damaged section, though the work did not prevent the far larger fire that followed.
The case has drawn attention to how privately owned grid connections serving renewable installations are inspected in Greece, where wind capacity has expanded across exposed ridgelines. The European Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre warned in late July that the season’s blazes were moving east towards Italy and Greece.
