Firefighters from France have arrived in Greece to assist their Greek colleagues to combat the numerous wild- and forest-fires ravaging the country.
The French contingent consisting of 25 firefighters will be stationed in Attica throughout the month of August.
27 firefighters from Norway and 48 firefighters from Finland are expected to arrive in the next days.
The Norwegian team will be reportedly stationed in Tripoli, central Peloponnese.
With firefighters from #France 🇫🇷 & #Romania 🇷🇴 participating in the #UCPM 🇪🇺 pre-positioning pilot project in #Greece
A warm thank you to each and every one for your support 🙏
Together we are stronger. Together we face #climatecrisis – This is #EUsolidarity! This is Europe! pic.twitter.com/fneKFm4oG2
— Χρήστος Στυλιανίδης – Christos Stylianides (@StylianidesEU) August 1, 2022
Climate Crisis and Civil Protection Minister Christos Stylianides welcomed the French unit at a welcoming ceremony at the Fire Service Academy. “I am certain that your presence here today, considering the well-known difficulties that France is facing [with wildfires], is proof of what we call European solidarity and fraternal relations between France and Greece,” he said.
The new teams replace Romanian and and German firefighters who supported their Greek colleagues in the month of July.
Α heartfelt thank you to 🇩🇪 firefighters leaving #Greece tdy after a month
Working together w/ @pyrosvestiki & helping to fight difficult #forestfires was of paramount importance
The 🇪🇺 pre-positioning project is true #EUsolidarity in action #UCPM #rescEU
Vielen Dank! pic.twitter.com/ZPg4qZ0QWP
— Χρήστος Στυλιανίδης – Christos Stylianides (@StylianidesEU) July 30, 2022