BRUSSELS – The European Commission emphasized today that firefighting resources are stationed in southern Europe, particularly in Portugal, and that the activation of European civil protection requires a request from the member state.
Responding to inquiries about the fires in southern Europe, spokesperson Anna-Kaisa Itkonen mentioned that Brussels has not yet received any such request to trigger the mechanism.
“We have helicopters and firefighters prepositioned in France and neighboring countries like Portugal, ready to assist as soon as requests are made,” stated Anna-Kaisa Itkonen.
To date, the European Union has made available 22 planes and five helicopters to address the fires, with 670 firefighters from various nations deployed in Portugal, Spain, France, Greece, and Italy to support local resources.
This fire season, the European Civil Protection Mechanism has already provided assistance in fighting fires in Greece, Bulgaria, Cyprus, North Macedonia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Albania.
Additionally, a report from the Institute for Nature Conservation and Forests (ICNF) indicates that a quarter of this year’s rural fires were arson-related, and the area affected up to July represents the third highest total since 2015.
The provisional report from ICNF, dated July 31, notes that the leading causes of the fires investigated by that point were agricultural and controlled burns (32%), followed by “arson – attributable” (25%), and reignitions (8%).
From January 1 to July 31, there were 4,758 rural fires reported, resulting in 33,224 hectares (ha) burned, including forests (15,545 ha), scrubland (13,704 ha), and agricultural land (3,975 ha).
In comparison to the same period last year, the area burned increased approximately sevenfold, with the number of fires rising by 85%.
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