Two hundred and forty (240) firemen from Bulgaria, Malta, Moldova and Romania will be in our country this summer to work together with their Greek colleagues, within the framework of the pre-installation programme implemented for the 3rd consecutive year through the European Mechanism Civil Protection (EUCPM).
European firefighters, using manned water-borne forest fire-fighting vehicles, will be gradually deployed between early July and mid-September to three operational bases: Attica, Thessaloniki and Achaia.
Bulgaria’s first mission has been at the operational base in Thessaloniki, where the 2nd Special Forestry Operations Unit is based, since Tuesday.
The missions to Malta (Operational Base Achaia) and Moldova (Operational Base Attica) will follow on 15 July.
Having proven in practice the value of European solidarity, the European fire brigade pre-deployment programme – which was first implemented in Greece in the summer of 2022 – is being rolled out on an expanded basis this year, as more countries will participate in the programme by sending and receiving firefighters, as well as forest firefighting forces.
Greece is in fact participating in a dual capacity, as in addition to the 240 firefighters it will host, it has already participated with a group of 25 forest commanders from EMODE, who were deployed between 15 and 30 June in the south of France.
Greece “opened” the program on June 15, sending the first firefighters to France, and will also be the one to “close” it on September 15, when the last mission of a participating country (Romania) will be completed. In addition, the time spent by firefighters in Greece will be longer this year, as it will be extended to 2.5 months, compared to 2 months in previous years.
In total, 12 countries are participating in the European firefighter pre-deployment programme for this year’s fire season with firefighting missions: Austria, Bulgaria, Greece, Estonia (for the 1st time), Italy (for the 1st time), Latvia, Malta, Moldova (for the 1st time), Romania, Slovakia, Slovenia (for the 1st time) and Finland.
These countries will provide a total of 556 firefighters, who will be deployed in Greece, France, Spain (participating for the first time as a host country) and Portugal, with the aim of providing assistance in fighting forest fires, as well as exchanging knowledge.
For the needs of preparing for the implementation of the program in Greece, the previous period was held at its facilities Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, two training seminars: for administrative liaisons and liaison officers of foreign missions, from 29 to 31 May 2024, and for team leaders, from 16 to 18 June 2024.