The European Commission will provide Cyprus with two light aircraft to bolster its firefighting capabilities this summer, as forecasts predict hotter-than-average temperatures in the Southeastern Mediterranean region, raising wildfire risks.
\nZacharias Yiakoumis, Head of Communication for the EU\u2019s Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (ECHO), announced the support during a press briefing.
\nThe aircraft, Air Tractor models, will be leased by Cyprus with the EU covering costs through the RescEU mechanism, similar to last year.
\nThe leasing covers June 15 to October 30, with deployment to other EU countries possible if needed.
\nRescEU activations have surged in recent years, exceeding 100 annually since 2019 compared to a pre-2019 average of 20. Cyprus has activated the mechanism eight times since 2016 while offering assistance sixteen times, including non-EU countries like Canada.
\nWildfires ravaged an estimated 500 million hectares globally in 2023, a 32% increase from the 2006-2022 average. Greece, Spain, and Italy bore the brunt, with Greece alone losing 175,000 hectares. Notably, Germany requested wildfire assistance for the first time last year.
\nWhile RescEU aerial support rises from 13 in 2022 to 28 this year (24 aircraft, 4 helicopters), the focus remains on bolstering firefighting personnel. France, Greece, Portugal, and Spain will receive additional firefighters for the third consecutive summer, with roughly 200-240 personnel stationed in Greece.
\nThese reinforcements hail from Slovakia, Italy, Romania, and ten other EU countries.firefighting aircraft. wildfire risks, firefighting capabilities, RescEU mechanism<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The European Commission will provide Cyprus with two light aircraft to enhance its firefighting capabilities this summer due to the increased wildfire risks in the Southeastern Mediterranean region. The Air Tractor models will be leased by Cyprus, with costs covered by the EU through the RescEU mechanism. The aircraft will be available for deployment to other EU countries if necessary. RescEU activations have increased significantly in recent years, with Cyprus activating the mechanism eight times since 2016. Wildfires have affected 500 million hectares globally in 2023, with Greece, Spain, and Italy being the hardest hit. The focus this year is on strengthening firefighting personnel, with additional firefighters being sent to France, Greece, Portugal, and Spain for the third consecutive summer from various EU countries.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":11784,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"Default","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[1521,122,3258,5286,913,6595,693,694,3146,2511,3,379,2347,1841,118,5264,9395,9038,9645,499,576,747,2400,9769,1235,399,1823,419,148,4361,610,4448,9955,1486,586,4347,1358,443,114,5263,9954,5861],"class_list":["post-11783","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-other","tag-1521","tag-aid","tag-air","tag-assistance","tag-canada","tag-capacity","tag-climate-change","tag-climate-crisis","tag-communication","tag-costs","tag-cyprus","tag-eu","tag-eu-countries","tag-european-commission","tag-fire","tag-firefighters","tag-firefighting","tag-firefighting-capabilities","tag-forecasts","tag-france","tag-germany","tag-greece","tag-hail","tag-helicopters","tag-humanitarian","tag-humanitarian-aid","tag-increase","tag-italy","tag-local","tag-mediterranean","tag-portugal","tag-protection","tag-resceu-mechanism","tag-romania","tag-spain","tag-summer","tag-support","tag-temperatures","tag-top-news","tag-wildfire","tag-wildfire-risks","tag-wildfires"],"acf":{"keyphrase":"","keywords":"","sourceimg":"","country-category":""},"yoast_head":"\n