The European Union is coordinating a cross-border firefighting response to major wildfires burning in southern Europe, mobilising aircraft and crews to support France and Spain. The assets are being channelled through the EU's Civil Protection Mechanism, the framework that allows member states and partner countries to pool emergency resources, as set out at the European Commission's midday briefing in Brussels.
For France, the Commission spokesperson said two air tractor planes from Turkey and one air tractor plane from Luxembourg had been made available, along with 80 pre-positioned firefighters from Romania and 20 pre-positioned firefighters from Slovakia. The deployment reflects the scale of the response being organised to help French authorities tackle the blazes.
The spokesperson then set out a further set of assets mobilised, describing them as the current situation as regards France and Spain. These included two air tractor planes from Greece and two Canadair planes coming from Italy, brought together with contributions from several other countries taking part in the mechanism.
Among those additional resources, the spokesperson pointed to two air tractor planes from Turkey provided through the civil protection mechanism rather than the EU's own fleet, as well as 134 people and 41 vehicles from Portugal and one helicopter from Serbia. The list underlined how widely the request for support had been shared across the continent.
The response also drew on pre-positioned firefighters from several countries. According to the briefing, these included 40 firefighters from the Netherlands, 40 from Bulgaria and 105 from Poland, adding to the personnel already committed by Romania and Slovakia in support of France.
On Greece, the Commission said it had not yet received a request to activate the Civil Protection Mechanism. The spokesperson said the situation there was being monitored very closely and that the EU stood ready to act should such a request come in from the Greek authorities.
The spokesperson also noted that Ukraine is part of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, meaning it belongs to the pool of participants that can be called upon. The Commission said that when a request is made it would do its best to match it, underlining how the mechanism links EU countries and partners in responding to emergencies such as wildfires.