More than 500 firefighters from 12 countries will be on the frontline in key locations in Europe including Greece, France and Spain to tackle fires this summer.

Specifically, as the European Commission states in its announcement, 556 firefighters from 12 countries will be deployed in key locations in Europe including France, Greece, Portugal, and Spain, ready to assist local fire services.

The preventive measure strengthens Europe’s readiness to fight forest fires and mitigate their devastating effects and underlines the robustness of EU solidarity in the face of such crises.

At the same time, the EU has mobilized a dedicated rescEU fleet of firefighting aircraft for this summer, consisting of 28 planes and 4 helicopters stationed in 10 Member States.

More specifically, the fleet will include:

• Four medium amphibious aircraft, two light aircraft and a helicopter from Greece
• Two medium amphibious aircraft from Croatia
• Two medium amphibious aircraft and two light aircraft from Italy
• Two medium amphibious aircraft from Spain
• Four medium amphibious aircraft and one helicopter from France
• Four light aircraft from Sweden
• Two light aircraft from Portugal
• Two helicopters from the Czech Republic
• Two light aircraft from Cyprus
• Two light aircraft from Germany

The Commission has also allocated a total of €600 million to facilitate the acquisition of 12 new firefighting airplanes in the future, which will be distributed across six EU Member States. In addition, several helicopters will be funded in the future by the EU to strengthen the EU’s aerial firefighting fleet.

The deployment of firefighters and the acquisition of additional firefighting aircraft underline the EU’s commitment to strengthening its ability to respond effectively to forest fires, particularly in the coming summer months.

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