Wildfire response systems in EU are at their limit

Written by journalist Danylo Aleksandrov

To support Spain and France in their struggle against the wildfires, the European Commission brought its emergency response system into action, providing specialized vehicles to both countries, as well as sending additional firefighter brigades. But the system is overwhelmed and is reaching its limit.

On Monday the European Commission’s spokesperson told the media that the current wildfires are out of EU’s capacity. The emergency mentioned has already driven out more than 300,000 people out of their homes and devastated more than 120,000 hectares of forests in Spain and France (80,000 in the former, 42,000 in the latter). The fires currently remain out of control, which might cause further damage and evacuations.

Although officials in the Commission state that its system is working, they acknowledge that it is being pushed to its limits as the number and scale of emergencies is rising every year. As such, the emergency response mechanism being outpaced by those same natural disasters is becoming a problem.

As a result, EU plans to expand its fleet of various firefighting vehicles, including specialized trucks, planes and helicopters. This will enable better and faster response to future disasters, especially firefighter. But officials insist that the root of the problem lies in climate change, as it is responsible for lengthening of wildfire seasons as well as expanding their scale.

As such, the Commission argues that not only should the bloc invest in firefighting equipment, but it also has to take measures to prevent the emergence of such natural disasters. The main idea behind this is that mitigation would cost less than a fleet of equipment which will have to be enlarged with each year.

In the meantime the wildfires in Spain and France continue, as do the multinational efforts to help those countries. Numerous additional equipment and personnel were deployed to aid the local specialists.