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The land module for firefighting assistance in extinguishing forest fires will leave on Friday from Romania to Greece, announced, on Thursday, the head of the Emergency Situation Department (DSU), Raed Arafat.
"Today, after discussions with our colleagues from the Greek Civil Protection and the European Civil Protection, of course, with the Coordination center, we have forwarded a proposal for a module that will leave from the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations. The module includes 112 firefighters, 23 firefighting trucks, of which six for forest fires, two cisterns, a command center, four multi-risk containers with equipment, a high capacity generator, two mobile camps for own use for our staff, an intervention bus and two minibuses as well as four first intervention and command units," explained Raed Arafat in a press conference at the Victoria Government Palace.
"The proposal is for assistance for 10 days, with the possibility for extension," Arafat also mentioned, Agerpres informs.
He showed that the module needs to be "as independent as possible," "so it doesn't become a burden" on the authorities in the country it operates in.
"That's why they're leaving with more material, which are necessary to them, of course, and the necessary funds to ... If they need to acquire their own material for themselves, as are the rules for assistance in such situations, but, of course, there will be a clear support from the host country, which is accepted, for example the fuel for interventions the vehicles consume there, this comes also as support from the authorities in the country where the intervention is taking place. The travel costs - both departure and return - are covered 75 pct from the European Civil Protection Mechanism. It's the first time Romania sends a land module for forest fires outside the country," said Arafat.
The DSU head mentioned that several countries have requested support for extinguishing forest fires.
"It's normal to be with our collegues from other countries and, as you can see, each European country has sent to another country that is in need - from what I know, in North Macedonia there are already teams from their neighboring countries, including Bulgaria sent [people] there, in Italy there were crews coming from other countries, in Turkey too, Turkey being a member of the European Civil Protection Mechanism, three planes were sent on behalf of the European Civil Protection Mechanism," Arafat also stated.
