In order to combat the forest fires that continue to rage in Portugal due to the drought that is affecting the European continent (see other news), the European Commission advance mobilised and subsequently deployed two fire-fighting aircraft from Greece in the country on Monday 22 August.
Over the summer, 29 aircraft and eight helicopters were deployed across Europe to respond to requests for assistance from EU Member States through the EU’s RescEU civil protection mechanism. 369 firefighters and over 100 vehicles joined them on the ground.
“We are facing a difficult summer in Europe, with so far this year more than 700,000 hectares burned, the highest value at this time of year since 2006”, EU crisis management commissioner Janez Lenarčič had noted on Thursday 18 August.
Since the beginning of the summer, the RescEU mechanism has been activated nine times by five EU countries and 15 countries have called on the EU’s Copernicus emergency satellite mapping service 46 times for forest fire-related emergencies.
In early August, the Commission presented the first pan-European ‘Wildfire Risk Assessment’ and a new tool providing harmonised data over the last 20 years. This tool can help the competent public authorities to better prevent fire risks and mitigate their impact in case of an outbreak.
See the tool: https://aeur.eu/f/2sf (Original version in French by Mathieu Bion)