- Heraklion’s Civil Protection gears up for the 2025 fire season.
- Drones repaired abroad and ready for action.
- Specialised training for municipal teams is in progress.
- Partnerships with geoinformatics firms to explore drone capabilities.
- Prevention measures for wildfires and other hazards ramped up.
In preparation for the upcoming fire season of 2025, the Heraklion Civil Protection team has taken a confident step forward—or rather, upward—by introducing drones into the fold.
To start, the city dusted off its two trusty drones—a mapping model and a quadcopter—and sent them off to Germany for repairs and tuning. Now they’re back, spruced up, and raring to go.
Of course, a drone is only as good as the person steering it, which is why training has become a cornerstone of this initiative. Key members of the Civil Protection team and municipal police will soon receive specialised instruction—not the sort of thing that involves endless PowerPoints, but hands-on courses that lead to official certification in operating these flying helpers.
This plan didn’t just materialise out of thin air. It was honed during a recent meeting led by Heraklion’s mayor, Alexis Kalokairinos, alongside the Deputy Mayor of Civil Protection and the Municipal Police, Manolis Chairetis. They were joined by officials from a geoinformatics firm—the go-to experts on all things tech and topographical. Participants such as Maria Moudraki from the Civil Protection Department and Manolis Koukiadakis, the council’s telecom and networks lead, were briefed on how this technology will help monitor dense forest areas and provide real-time updates during emergencies.