Brussels, 24/08/2009 (Agence Europe) - European solidarity has come into play through the Community Mechanism for Civil Protection in order to assist Greece in combating the forest fires raging in North-East Attica and on the outskirts of Athens. At the request of the Greek authorities, the main body, the Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC), was activated during the evening of Saturday 22 August to coordinate offers of assistance from the countries that make up the network and to deploy the aircraft requested. France has thus offered to mobilise two Canadair CL-215 aircraft of the European tactical reserve of fire fighting aircraft (EUFFTR), set in place this summer to assist member states facing major fires. Cyprus has offered to send a fire fighting helicopter and Austria is ready to contribute six helicopters and water bombers.
“The European reserve of forest fire fighting aircraft, established with the support of the European Parliament, again proves to be a great example of European added value by filling the aerial fire fighting capacity gap in the most difficult situations”, stressed European Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas in a press release on 23 August. Without waiting for MIC intervention, Italy had, within an hour after the alarm had been sounded, offered two CL-415 Canadian amphibian water bombers.
In 2008, the European Parliament set aside €3.5 million for EUFFTR. Both Canadairs from the European tactical reserve have already been mobilised on four occasions this summer in southern Europe, and before being deployed in Greece had just completed a mission in Portugal.
Considerable damage and destruction by forest fires in 2009
The latest fires in Greece add to damage by forest fires which, in 2009, is already higher than in 2008. On 10 August this year, forest fires had already destroyed some 200,000 hectares of land (compared to 180,000 for the whole of 2008), according to estimates by the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), which has just published its report, “Forest Fires in EUROPE 2008”. EFFIS, which was established by the Joint Research Centre and the European Commission's directorate general, keeps a permanent watch on the risk of forest fires and, on the basis of satellite images, establishes maps of affected areas, updated on a daily basis, as well as estimated damage. In 2008, the surface area devastated by flames and the ensuing damage estimated was the lowest that southern Europe had suffered since 1980, with a total of 158,621 hectares (against an annual average of 483,896 hectares).
The report “Forest Fires in EUROPE 2008” may be consulted on line at the following address: http: //effis.jrc.ec.europa.eu/reports/fire-reports. Maps and key data on individual fire size, location and fire danger can be consulted at: http: //effis.jrc.europa.eu/current-situation. (A.N./transl.jl)