The European Commission is mobilising emergency support to Greece and Albania, both of which have activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism in response to severe wildfires.
This month, the European Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre has mobilised both aerial and ground firefighting resources from several European countries to assist Greece.
Organised support includes two rescEU firefighting planes from Italy, a rescEU helicopter from France, and a helicopter offered by Serbia.
Additionally, ground firefighting teams have been deployed from Czechia, France, Italy, Serbia and Romania. Maltese and Moldovan firefighters, already prepositioned in Greece, were among the first responders battling the fires in Greece.
The support for Albania includes a multipurpose military plane from Romania with a capacity of 6 tons of water.
The EU Commission is closely monitoring the situation and stands ready to deploy further assistance as needed.
As part of its measures for this year’s fire season, the EU has enhanced its rescEU and European Civil Protection Pool. It now includes 28 airplanes and four helicopters stationed across 10 Member States. Additionally, during the wildfires season over 540 firefighters from 12 countries are prepositioned in key locations across Europe, ready to assist local fire brigades when necessary.
An ongoing problem
Europe has struggled with increasingly intense fire seasons in recent years. In 2017, one of the worst years for wildfires in Portugal, over 100 people lost their lives. And in 2018, intense heatwaves and prolonging droughts resulted in over 100 fatalities reported in Greece during the fire season. Across Europe, countries like Spain and Italy have also been severely affected in the past decade, experiencing widespread wildfires.
In 2023 thousands of people, including holidaymakers, were evacuated across Croatia, Portugal, Greece, Spain, Italy and Algeria when fires blazed across Europe. Airlines had put on repatriation flights to some of the destinations most affected, including the Greek islands.
