Brussels (The Brussels Morning Newspaper) – The development of twelve amphibious firefighting planes to make up the permanent rescEU fleet has been undertaken following agreements inscribed by several EU Member States with the Canadian Commercial Corporation.
What Impact Will the Permanent rescEU Fleet Have on Wildfires?
The planes will be funded by the European Commission and will become the new backbone of the EU’s crisis comeback to tackle forest fires. Aircraft from the rescEU resources can be rapidly deployed in case a government is facing severe wildfires that require additional help. This is in line with the EU’s long-term strategy to appoint a permanent rescEU firefighting fleet hosted by Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain. Ten additional firefighting aircraft are being bought by Member States directly to help their national fleets.
Welcoming the triumph of this coordinated action by the EU Commission and Member States, Commissioner for Crisis Management, Janez Lenarčič, stated: “This is a historic moment in European civil protection in this age of climate crisis. As wildfire seasons become longer, more deadly and more unpredictable, we have been working tirelessly to bolster the EU’s firefighting response capacities. Today’s announcement proves that Europe is committed to strengthening and deepening these efforts. I want to thank all the Member States with whom we have worked to speed up the purchase of much-needed firefighting planes. Thanks to our collaboration, we are well on track with the timeline set by the European Commission to acquire a new, permanent fleet of firefighting aircraft of planes and helicopters.”
How Is the EU Addressing the Growing Risk of Wildfires?
Wildfires have recently evolved into a pan-European concern, and the fire risk is anticipated to further grow due to climate change. The EU Civil Protection Mechanism harmonises pan-European assistance and ensures that all EU Member States and partaking states to the Mechanism obtain timely information in times of crises and emergencies.
Since 2019, the EU Civil Protection Mechanism has been progressively strengthened with the rescEU fleet, a European reserve that possesses firefighting planes and helicopters and is 100% funded by the EU. The EU funds will allow the acquisition of a total of 12 unique firefighting planes, which will be spread among six EU Member States (Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain), and several helicopters. These will evolve the ‘permanent rescEU fleet’. The first airplanes are anticipated to be produced in 2027. The first batch of helicopters is anticipated to arrive in 2026.
