Romania sent a third contingent of firefighters specializing in tackling forest fires to Greece on Sunday, August 30. The team will continue the monitoring and firefighting missions carried out by the previous Romanian contingent over the past two weeks, the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU) announced.

The firefighters are traveling by road from the Special Emergency Intervention Unit in Ciolpani to Nea Makri in Greece’s Attica region, around 25 kilometers northeast of Athens.

The new team will use the equipment already deployed in Greece, including three forest fire engines with capacities ranging from 3,000 to 5,000 liters, a 10,000-liter high-capacity vehicle, and a 30,000-liter water tanker. The equipment also includes a first-response and command vehicle fitted with an unmanned aircraft system, a shortwave radio communications vehicle, a minibus, a container truck, and a utility terrain vehicle equipped for firefighting.

Romania is participating in Greece between August 1 and September 15 with a national module specializing in forest fire response. The mission is part of a pre-positioning program organized by the European Commission’s Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO).

The EU-funded program was designed to support European communities severely affected by major wildfires in previous years. It is part of the bloc’s efforts to prevent and limit forest fires in southern Europe. 

Operational teams from Romania, the Czech Republic, France, and Moldova are participating in this year’s program in Greece.

Romania has taken part in the pre-positioning initiative each year since 2022. Greek authorities formally requested the deployment of another Romanian forest firefighting module in 2026 through the European Commission’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre.

irina.marica@romania-insider.com

(Photo source: Facebook/IGSU - Inspectoratul General pentru Situatii de Urgenta, Romania)