It sounds
incredible, but the small country of Greece seems to be burning down. Police
believe arsonists are responsible for at least half of the fires. Thirty people
have died so far, many of them trapped in their homes or their cars. Residents
all over Greece have called fire departments, police, and media about fires
surrounding their homes, but there have simply not been enough firemen to
respond to all these fires.
The
government has asked for aid from France, Italy, and Germany. Greek ruins that
are almost 3,000 years old are in danger of being burnt down. Fires surround
Athens, the capital city. The hillsides are ablaze, and there seems to be no end
in sight. Entire villages have been destroyed. There has been no rain for two
months, and the trees are so dry that just the heat from an approaching fire
causes them to explode into flames.
Police have
arrested three suspected arsonists. One suspect, oddly enough, was still
complaining about the 2004 Olympics. He had applied to carry the torch into the
stadium and light the fire to officially start the Games. His application was
ignored. “You have to be somebody,” was the reply he got when he called the
Olympic Committee in Athens. “And you’re not—you’re nobody,” an official told
him. The man was in jail for three years for trying to blow up the committee’s
headquarters. Yesterday, police caught him walking away from a new fire with an
empty gas can in his hands.
“I’m
nobody, huh?” he told the police. “Well, I’m somebody now!”
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