EU Activates Crisis Plan to Battle Forest Fires at Czech-German Border

Brussels- The European Union announced on Wednesday that it has sent equipment to assist in combating wildfires raging at the Czech-German border.

“The European Union has swiftly mobilised two firefighting airplanes and two helicopters to Czechia where a large forest fire is burning in the north of the country. Following yesterday’s request for assistance, Poland and Slovakia are each operating one helicopter in the country​​​. The EU is mobilising 2 firefighting planes from its rescEU fleet that are stationed in Italy. They will be operating in Czechia as of today,” the European Commission’s statement read.

“We are facing very intense wildfires this summer — active across the Mediterranean and in the very centre of our continent. To combat fires ravaging in a national park in Czechia’s north bordering Germany, our Union stands in full solidarity to face the destructive fires,” European Commissioner for Crisis Management Janez Lenarčič said.

A wildfire in a national park in the north of the Czech Republic started on Sunday but has since spread further, moving toward Germany.

The EU’s Emergency Response Coordination Center is in close contact with the representatives of both countries and has deployed a Liaison Officer to Prague to support the firefighting effort with incoming EU assistance.

Many European countries have been experiencing extremely high temperatures in the past month. Some countries have been impacted by droughts, while others are dealing with massive wildfires, that engulf thousands of acres of land.