The European Commission will reinforce the Republic of Cyprus’ protective umbrella against fires with two aircraft in the coming summer season, while meteorological predictions indicate to a hot summer in the South-Eastern Mediterranean region with above-normal temperatures, which increases the risk of forest fires.
This was stated by the Head of Communication of the European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), Zacharias Giakoumis, in a briefing presented to journalists online at the EU House in Nicosia.
In his briefing on the Commission’s actions and support package in the field of fire prevention and assistance to states in fighting fires, he said that the two light fire-fighting aircraft (Air Tractor type) will be operated on lease by the Republic of Cyprus, again this year, but with costs covered by the EU.
The Commission’s mechanism will start covering the lease costs of the two aircraft on 15 June and will run until 30 October. In case they are needed by another EU Member State,
and Cyprus activates assistance to other countries through the mechanism, these aircraft may be moved to assist in firefighting.
Cyprus has activated the mechanism 8 times since 2016 and has since then provided 16 aids through the mechanism to other countries. It should be noted that assistance is not only given to EU countries but also to other countries such as Canada, for example, when some 18.8 million hectares of forest land were burnt in a fire. He noted that the biggest activation of RescEU was last year in the fires in Evros, Greece.
Giakoumis said that 2023 was the hottest year ever recorded, in which about 500 million hectares were burned, an increase of 32% from the average hectares burned since 2006. Of this burnt land, more than two thirds was in Greece (175 thousand), Spain and Italy.
Last year 24 out of 27 EU countries were affected by fires, while Greece and Cyprus requested assistance from the Mechanism twice. Notably, last year Germany requested fire-fighting assistance for the first time
.
In Cyprus, in 2023, 2 thousand hectares were burnt in fires, while 10 fires had broken out (to be counted as a fire, more than 30 hectares of land must be burnt).
Referring to the European Civil Protection Mechanism, Giakoumis said that this year it will contribute with support to Member States with 28 aircraft (24 aircraft and 4 helicopters), while in 2022 the Mechanism provided only 13 aircraft.
This summer, 28 planes and 4 helicopters will be made available to Croatia, the Czech Republic, France, Germany, Portugal, Spain, Sweden, Croatia, France, Portugal and Spain, in addition to Cyprus and Greece.
He also said that this year, for the third consecutive year, the presence of firefighters who will be based for the summer season in France, Greece, Portugal and Spain is being expanded and consolidated. In particular, the number of these firefighters is 550 this year, and in Greece there will be between 200 and 240 firefighters.
Source: Cyprus News Agency