Brussels, 27/08/2014 (Agence Europe) - European solidarity is at work, through the civil protection mechanism of the EU, to help the Greek authorities to fight forest fires raging in the central part of the country since 24 August, which have already ravaged 400 hectares. On Tuesday 26 August, France responded within just a few hours to the request for emergency assistance made by the authorities to the Commission's Emergency Response Coordination Centre. Two French Canadairs were immediately sent to the stricken regions.
Kristalina Georgieva, European Commissioner for International Cooperation, Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Response, expressed gratitude for this and called for further contributions. “Forest fires are a risk we face every summer and this year is no exception; we will continue to support the efforts of Greece to prevent the fire from spreading towards populated areas. The Commission is grateful to France for its prompt gesture of solidarity; I hope that other member states will also be able to offer assistance”, she said in a press release.
Greece is also making use of the European Commission's satellite imaging service. The European Commission's Emergency Response Coordination Centre, an institution within Echo, the Commission's humanitarian aid and civil protection service, is coordinating the offers of assistance from the 31 countries participating in the EU civil protection mechanism (the 28 member states of the EU plus FYROM, Iceland and Norway). It is responsible for monitoring forest fire risks throughout Europe, using national monitoring services and instruments such as EFFIS (The European Forest Fire Information System) and satellite imaging to provide an overview of the situation in Europe. Every summer, its experts hold a weekly videoconference with the national authorities of the countries which are most at risk from forest fires. In June of this year, Greece hosted EU PROMETHEUS 2014, a major civil protection exercise to test the cooperation and reaction capacity of the member states in the framework of the EU civil protection mechanism.
Copernicus, the largest-ever civilian Earth observation programme, provides all players involved in disaster management (natural or man-made) and humanitarian crises with precise satellite images of the stricken areas in real time. Over the last three years, the EU civil protection mechanism has been activated 17 times for forest fires in Europe and beyond. (AN)