Over 180 firefighters coming to Greece from five European countries in July and August

Greece will welcome more than 180 firefighters from five European countries in the July-August season, in the context of a pre-positioning program that will be implemented again via the European Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM).

The teams will come from Bulgaria, France, Germany, Romania and Slovakia. The European firefighters will be based in Athens, Thessaloniki and Ancient Olympia so they are ready, as they were last year, to offer assistance to their Greek colleagues in putting out wildfires, as well as to exchange know-how.

According to a Climate Change and Civil Protection Ministry announcement, “the success of this pilot program (Pre-positioning Pilot Project), a practical demonstration of the value of European solidarity, was unanimously acknowledged at the EU Ministerial Meeting in September 2022 in Brussels – a fact that led to a decision for its continuation and expansion. So this year, apart from Greece, European firefighters will be pre-positioned in France and Portugal as well.” 

The ministry added that from 2022, Greece constitutes a hub of the European Civil Protection Mechanism and of rescEU in the wider southeastern Mediterranean.