Municipality of Kozani: Obligations of private individuals for the cleaning of plots and other uncovered areas to prevent the risk of causing or spreading fire

The Municipality of Kozani informs that according to:
– Official Gazette number 2549, issue B, of 19.4.2023, no. 20/2023 Fire Regulation entitled “Definition of preventive fire protection measures for plots of land and other uncovered areas located in areas within approved landscaping plans, within the boundaries of settlements without an approved landscaping plan, in areas located within a radius of 100m. from the boundaries of the above areas, as well as in out-of-plan stadiums with buildings”.
– Article 31 of Law 5075/2023, Official Gazette A’206/2023, as an addition to Article 53A of Law 4662/2020,
the owners, usufructuary, lessees or sub-lessees of land and other uncovered premises, located:
a) in areas within approved landscape plans,
b) in areas within settlement boundaries, without an approved urban plan,
c) in areas within a radius of one hundred (100) meters from the limits of a) and b), after informing the competent forestry service,
d) outside the plan of fields with buildings, for the areas that are not subject to the provisions of the forestry legislation, according to the forest map of the area and after informing the competent forestry service,
must carry out the cleaning of the above premises from 1st to 30th April of each year, and its maintenance, throughout the fire protection season, i.e. from 1st May to 31st October, to prevent the risk of fire or rapid its expansion.

Cleaning includes:
– Logging and removal of dry and broken trees and branches, as well as branches that are in direct contact with buildings.
– Removal of combustible plant material on the surface of the soil, such as leaf litter, dry grasses and underlying dry branches.
– Branching of the base of the tree crown and increasing its starting height from the ground surface, depending on their age and species.
– Thinning of shrubby vegetation in terms of ground cover.
– Removal of any other abandoned burning, flammable, explosive or combustible materials, objects and waste.

Those liable must proceed to submit a responsible declaration regarding the fulfillment of the fire protection obligations of their properties, in the National Register of Compliance with Preventive Property Fire Protection Measures.
The debtors who do not submit the declaration of par. 4, of article 31, of law 5075/2023, shall be fined in the amount of one thousand (1,000) euros in accordance with par. 5, of article 31, of law 5075/2023.

Controls

For the proper maintenance of the Register, it is established to carry out sample checks and it is assigned to the fire department and the relevant Local Government Organizations (LGAs), jointly or individually, to carry out checks of the observance of preventive fire protection measures, per property.
The data of the Registry are transmitted within an exclusive period of five (5) days, from the expiry of the deadline for submitting a declaration, for the performance of mandatory cleanings in all properties for which the fulfillment of the cleaning obligation is not expressly shown. In any case of cleaning by the Municipality due to non-compliance with the cleaning obligation on the part of the owner, the cost of cleaning the area and removing the materials shall be charged entirely to the obligees, by the municipality concerned.
The expense is an income of the relevant municipality and is collected in accordance with the written provisions.
In any case of non-practical passing of the deadline for declaration of cleanup, it is presumed that the consent of the obligee to the cleanup of his plot by the relevant municipality has been provided.
Throughout the validity period of the obligation, the Local Government Organizations carry out sample checks on the obligees who have submitted a positive declaration.

Fines

The submission of a false statement to the National Registry of par. 1, article 31, of Law 5075/2023, regarding compliance with the relevant obligation, is punishable by a prison sentence of at least two (2) years and a fine of one hundred and eighty (180) up to three hundred and sixty (360) daily units. The amount of each daily unit cannot be lower than seventy (70) euros, nor higher than one hundred and fifty (150) euros.
The Fire Authority may impose on violators of the provisions of the current fire protection legislation, based on article 48 of Law 5075/2023 (amendment of par. 3 of article 167 of Law 4662/2020) among others “an administrative fine of five hundred euros (€500) up to fifty thousand (€50,000) euros, taking into account the degree of culpability of the perpetrator, the degree of immediate compliance, the effects on the general public, the size and duration of the potential firefighting operation. The fines of the previous paragraph may be doubled in case of recurrence within a period of one (1) year.