The European Union deploys 11 firefighting planes and helicopters to help battle a massive blaze in southwest France, with Spain also receiving aid.
BRUSSELS: The European Union is ramping up the number of firefighting planes and helicopters sent to help tackle the blaze raging in southwest France, the bloc’s crisis management chief told AFP Monday.
“We currently have nine aerial assets deployed on site, and tomorrow we will have 11, drawn from our European strategic reserve,” EU commissioner Hadja Lahbib said.
The fire has since Wednesday last week ravaged 42,000 hectares of pine forest in the famous wine-growing region of Bordeaux.
It has caused some 220,000 holidaymakers and residents to flee at the height of the summer holidays, and destroyed around 240 homes.
Lahbib said the assets deployed from a central fleet under the EU’s command include water-bombing aircraft and Black Hawk helicopters.
Fire crews are scrambling to tackle the fire before a new spike in temperatures expected in the coming days.
“It is a race against time that our teams are waging on the ground, alongside the French, of course,” Lahbib said.
The blaze in France comes as Spain is also grappling with major wildfires west of Madrid.
Lahbib said that so far six aircraft have been deployed from the EU’s fleet to Spain.
She said the simultaneous challenges had strained the EU’s capacities, which pool assets from across the bloc.
“Extreme conditions are looming for Hungary, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, in addition to France, the Iberian Peninsula, and North Africa — where the situation is expected to worsen, including in Portugal starting today,” Lahbib said.
She said that in 2025 there had been a total of 19 requests to activate the EU’s emergency mechanism to help with the wildfires.
“This year, I think we’re obviously going to top that number,” she said.
