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In Greece, arsonists of forests, private companies and houses are rarely convicted, mainly because of obtaining insurance. Only 3% of those initially charged with causing devastating forest fires are convicted and 1 in 172 (or about 0.6%) is sentenced for causing fires at houses, companies, etc. Who is to blame for this? This is mainly due to the insufficient or incorrect data presented to the court by the majority of the investigators at the fire department.

These are the findings of Adrianos Gourbatsis, a former deputy chief of the fire department, lawyer and special investigator which he presents in his major study related to the data of the Ministry of Justice on dealing with intentional fires. These findings are of particular importance in the early summer, which is going to be quite "problematic" in view of the gaps concerning air vehicles and fire-fighting equipment in general. It should be noted that Attica is the region with the highest number of intentional fires and at the same time the largest number of unpunished arsonists.

The study, which includes the final data of the Ministry of Justice, covers the period 2000-2010. Within this period, a total of 341,693 fires were registered in Greece, 224,708 or 65.8% of which in urban, and 116,985 or 34.2% in rural and forest areas. These fires burnt a total of 6,145,817.3 acres of agricultural land and forests outside the cities.
 
It was not possible to establish the causes for 202,367 fires of the total or 59.22%. 85,954 or 25.15% of the remaining fires were caused due to negligence and 30,107 or 8.81% were intentional. The investigation of the causes of the fires by the competent investigators at the fire department and the Greek police sent to court a total of 116,061 defendants defined as arsonists (intentional or due to negligence).

Ultimately, however, only 2,233 persons were convicted, including 2,002 or 89.7% men and 231 or 10.3% women. The highest number of participants in intentional fires (25.3%) was in the 45-59 age group.

The further analysis is also impressive. Of all regions in the country, Attica was the region with the highest number of intentional fires, the relevant rate reaching 210 per 100,000 inhabitants and of urban fires, namely 224 per 100,000 inhabitants. However, this region reported the smallest percentage of convicted persons, i.e. 0.2 persons per 100,000 inhabitants in the cases of intentional urban fires and 0.5 per 100,000 inhabitants in the cases of intentional forest fires.

The highest percentage of persons convicted for causing intentional fires was reported in the Ionian Islands, Continental Greece, the Peloponnese as well as in the areas of Epirus and Thrace.

Therefore, according to the findings of the major study by Adrianos Gourbatsis, only 1 in 172 defendants for arsons (intentional or due to negligence) was sentenced. This can be expressed as follows: there was 1 convicted person for every 714 urban fires in Greece and 1 convicted person for every 61 fires in forests or agricultural lands.

Moreover, the study makes it clear that while the average number of fires (urban of forest) decreased, the opposite phenomenon was observed in intentional fires, as their number increased.

As to the impunity of arsonists, Adrianos Gourbatsis states in his study, "It seems the employees of the competent investigating authority are not sufficiently and appropriately trained and naturally lack the relevant experience. Of course, concerning the crimes related to intentional fires, part of the responsibility should be borne perhaps by the regular investigators because they carry out the basic investigation after the preliminary investigation, and court files are not sufficiently related to the necessary evidence that would lead to the pronouncement of a guilty verdict against the persons accused of these crimes."
 
The study also states that "not only is the number of those convicted of causing intentional fires very small, but also their sentences are minimal."

The situation with the high percentage of "mental health" arsonists remains unchanged, which naturally refutes the myth existing in society that "fires are caused mainly by mental patients" and pyromaniacs...