At the weekend, Romania offered air assistance to Slovenia through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, bringing the number of countries that have provided resources to help the Member State fight forest fires in the Slovenian Gorica Karst region (municipality of Miren Kostanjevica) to four.
“The emergency services which are still fighting the raging wildfires in Slovenia are about to get further air assistance from Romania”, announced Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič on Saturday 23 July.
In response to a request for assistance from the Slovenian authorities on 20 July, three fire-fighting helicopters (donated by Austria, Croatia and Slovakia respectively) and a Croatian team of four trucks and nine fire-fighters had already been deployed.
An amphibious fire-fighting aircraft from the RescEU reserve stationed in Croatia was also in action that same day.
In July, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism has so far been activated for forest fires by Portugal, Albania, France and Slovenia. (Original version in French by Aminata Niang)