The EU’s fire-fighting fleet - 12 aircraft and a Canadair - is operational as of Wednesday 15 June to assist Member States that are unable to overcome forest fires throughout the fire season, the European Commission announced the same day.
These water bombers come from RescEU, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism’s equipment pool, and are positioned in Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Sweden. They can be deployed this summer, at the request of any country requesting assistance.
An aircraft has already been deployed last week to Albania from Greece to help fight a fire on the island of Sazan (see EUROPE 12966/27). Similarly, firefighters and technical equipment offered by six countries (Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Romania and Norway) have already been on standby since the beginning of June to assist Greece, if necessary (see EUROPE 12964/34).
Scientific forecasts for this year’s forest fire season predict above-average risks for Central Europe and the whole Mediterranean, the Commission says. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)