Fire brigades from North Rhine-Westphalia and Hesse and a ladder from the Technical Assistance Agency Germany are expected to assist in the effort to put out the fires in Greece, a spokesman for the federal interior ministry told the German News Agency (dpa) and relayed the Athenian News Agency.
The details of where they will operate, the time of their departure and their route are currently being coordinated with the Greek authorities, the dpa points out and also states that Germany has offered to support the response to the forest fires by renting helicopters with the required capacity. At the moment, however, it is not clear whether the use of helicopters will be requested by Greece, it is clarified.
According to the Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief, the Joint Federal and State Reference and Status Center, together with the European Union Emergency Response Coordination Center, has set up two ground-based firefighting units, with further assistance under way. The Bonn Fire Brigade will have 52 staff and 17 vehicles and the Hesse Fire Brigade 164 staff and 27 vehicles. In addition, today he flew to Greece a team of experts in order to get an idea of ​​the situation on the outskirts of Athens.
It is pointed out that the opposition parties had criticized the fact that Germany had not so far sent aid to Greece, while many European countries had already provided firefighting helicopters. “The federal government must participate in the aid measures for Greece within the existing possibilities,” Francesca Bradner, the Greens’ European policy chief, told dpa. firefighting aircraft for Germany, but also for European solidarity “. In the medium term, “we need to strengthen the European civil protection mechanism and align it with the climate crisis and its effects. “In the meantime, German firefighting helicopters could also help.”
On the same issue, the Liberal Party (FDP) spokesman for forest policy, Karlheinz Buzen, stressed that Germany should have taken an active part in expanding the European fleet of firefighting aircraft. “The forest fires currently raging in the European Mediterranean and in Turkey have already reached catastrophic proportions. “The enormous drought of recent years shows that this danger also exists in Central Europe and that larger scenarios of forest fires are now quite realistic for Germany, which must soon acquire its own firefighting aircraft.” “In the event of major disasters, such as forest fires, European efficiency and a common commitment are required, so we cannot leave alone the other six EU countries that have already joined the European fleet of firefighting aircraft,” he said. Germany, due to its central location in Europe, would be ideal as a base for a fleet of firefighting aircraft.
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