Ancient Olympia

Greece will welcome more than 180 firefighters from five European countries in the July-August season, in the context of a pre-positioning program that will be implemented again via the European Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM).

Police on Sunday arrested a man suspected of multiple acts of arson in the municipality of Ancient Olympia in the Peloponnese, the fire service said in a press release.

The 44-year-old man is accused of setting three fires in land plots in the areas of Vasilaki, Louvro and Kamena between August 21 and September 1.

Authorities in and around Ancient Olympia have been scrambling to prepare for the Olympic Flame lighting ceremony, which is to take place Thursday, collecting some 450 tons of garbage from the roads on the route along which the flame is to be carried.

Officials in the municipalities of Pyrgos and Ancient Olympia have decided to keep schools in the areas closed this week due to ongoing trash collection problems.

Local authorities have called on the government to help tackle the issue, saying it has become a danger to public health.

The mayor of Ancient Olympia, Efthymios Kotzias, was released on a 50,000-euro bail payment on Wednesday after defending himself before a magistrate in Pyrgos, in the western Peloponnese, on charges of harming the environment.