180 firefighters from five European countries will assist Greece combating wildfires in the period July and August. The teams will come from Bulgaria, France, Germany, Romania and Slovakia.
The assistance comes in the context of the firefighters pre-positioning program that will be implemented again via the European Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM).
The European firefighters will be based in Athens, Thessaloniki and Ancient Olympia so they are ready, as they were last year, to offer assistance to their Greek colleagues in putting out wildfires, as well as to exchange know-how.
According to a Climate Change and Civil Protection Ministry announcement, “the success of this pilot program (Pre-positioning Pilot Project), a practical proof of the value of European solidarity, was unanimously acknowledged at the EU Ministerial Meeting in September 2022 in Brussels – a fact the led to a decision for its continuation and expansion.
So this year, apart from Greece, European firefighters will be pre-positioned in France and Portugal as well.
The ministry added that from 2022, Greece constitutes a hub of the European Civil Protection Mechanism and of rescEU in the wider southeastern Mediterranean.
