Doubled air support for European forest fire fight

The European Commission has announced that in view of how this year’s forest fire season is progressing, it has been decided to double the aerial extinction fleet, within the framework of the European system of rescEU resources.

Thus, it will be made up of 24 planes and 4 helicopters from 10 Member States. Spain will participate with 2 aircraft.

The reinforcement of firefighting capabilities will be complemented by the provision of some 450 fire fighters from various countries, positioned in France, Greece and Portugal.

Lastly, work is underway to create a Support Team for Forest Fires within the Emergency Response Coordination Centre, which manages the provision of assistance to countries, to monitor and analyse in real time the situation of fires during the summer months.

rescEU firefighting fleet for 2023

The rescEU firefighting aircraft reserve includes 24 airplanes and 4 helicopters from 10 Member States:

• Two medium scooping airplanes from Croatia
• Two light planes from Cyprus
• Two helicopters from Czechia
• Two medium scooping airplanes and one helicopter from France
• Two light planes from Germany
• Two medium scooping airplanes, two light planes and one helicopter from Greece
• Two medium scooping airplanes and two light planes from Italy
• Two light planes from Portugal
• Two medium scooping airplanes from Spain
• Four light planes from Sweden

It should perhaps be noted that these are not new resources, but are taken from the existing provisions in each of the countries in order to strengthen the support across the continent.

Preventive and monitoring measures

Following the calls from EU Ministers and the European Parliament, in 2022 the Commission developed also a Wildfire Prevention Action Plan. This action plan is organised around three objectives: 1) improve administrative capacity; 2) improve knowledge; 3) increase investments in wildfire prevention action.

As part of the prevention action plan, the EU is launching a new Wildfire Peer Review Assessment Methodology. This new tool helps countries assess their capacity to prevent and prepare for wildfires, and supports the exchange of good practices among European countries, within the framework of the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

In addition, an Emergency Response Coordination Centre Wildfires Support Team is being created to enable near-real-time monitoring and analysis of the wildfire situation from mid-June to mid-September.

Background

Wildfire prevention, preparedness and response actions work hand in hand to save lives, livelihoods and protect the environment. Having experienced wildfire experts, well-trained firefighters, information technology and sufficient response assets available makes a difference.

The EU ensures a coordinated approach to preventing, preparing and responding to wildfires when those overwhelm national response capacities. When the scale of a wildfire overwhelms the response capabilities of a country, it can request assistance via the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. Once activated, the EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre coordinates and finances assistance made available by EU Member States and nine additional Participating States through spontaneous offers. In addition, the EU has created the European Civil Protection Pool to have a critical number of readily available civil protection capacities allowing for a stronger and coherent collective response. Should the emergency require additional, life-saving assistance, the rescEU firefighting reserve steps in to provide additional capacities to confront disasters in Europe. The Emergency Response Coordination Centre also monitors the evolution of wildfires with the support of early warning systems such as the European Forest Fire Information System, while the EU’s Copernicus emergency satellite mapping service complements operations with detailed information from space.

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