Brussels, 28/08/2007 (Agence Europe) - Speaking of the situation in Greece, on Tuesday 28 August, Barbara Helfferich, European Commission spokeswoman, said “all countries have mobilised, including those that, like Sweden, Finland and the Czech Republic, do not traditionally contribute to fire-fighting” (EUROPE 9488). She took stock of the new offers of assistance received by Athens since the weekend and admitted that some member states had asked for the cost of aid to be reimbursed. Her colleague, Antonia Mochan, stressed the significant help provided to Greece by the European Commission's Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS).
Since Sunday, Greece has accepted the assistance of two Spanish Canadairs, bringing to 10 the number of aircraft of this kind that are currently fighting the blaze in the Peloponnese and other regions ravaged by fire. Since last weekend, 7 French, Italian and Spanish Canadairs have been operating and one Portuguese Canadair arrived on Monday. Also, Austria has offered to send 3 Pilatus Porter DCs. Sweden has offered to send a further two helicopters, the Czech Republic a Bell 412, Romania a MI-17 and Finland 3 helicopters. These will be in addition to the other ten that Greece has accepted and that continue to arrive.
Cyprus has provided 6 fire-fighting engines and 60 forest fire-fighters. Poland has offered 30 fire-fighters and 50 hoses. Finland has also offered to provide a platoon of fire-fighters and Sweden has offered fired-fighting equipment. Greece has also received offers of assistance from Israel, Serbia, Switzerland and the Netherlands, said Ms Helfferich.
Answering questions put by a reporter, Ms Helfferich confirmed that some countries would be requesting reimbursement of the cost of aid provided. She mentioned Norway whose aid is provided by a private company. She did specify, however, that, from the outset when it had called for assistance, Greece had announced it was “willing to bear the cost, if necessary”.
Speaking of the lack of available Canadairs to fight the fires, the spokeswoman explained that the Commission did not intend to buy this very costly kind of aircraft but that, in 2008, a new budget of €20.4 million would allow the Civil Protection Mechanism (CPM) to rent the planes if necessary.
Antonio Mochan stressed the scientific support provided by the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), managed by the Joint Research Centre (JRC). The satellite images received by this system forecast improved weather conditions in the devastated areas in coming days, and also allows damage to be assessed before and during fires and for the surface area of fires to be calculated when over 50 hectares.