According to a statement released by the European Commission, a contingent of 556 firefighters from 12 countries will be placed in strategic locations in the EU such as Portugal, Spain, France, and Greece and will be ready to help fight forest fires.

The EU has also set up a special fleet for this summer, consisting of 28 firefighting planes and four helicopters in ten Member States, including Portugal, with two light planes.

The European Commission has also allocated a financial envelope of 600 million euros of EU funds to facilitate the acquisition of 12 more aircraft, which will be distributed among six countries in the bloc.

The year 2023 had one of the worst forest fire seasons ever recorded in the EU, with the aerial fleet to combat these fires having been reinforced.

The EU Civil Protection Mechanism was activated 10 times last year, calling on the bloc to collaborate in fighting fires in member and participating states (Iceland, Norway, Serbia, Macedonia, Montenegro, Turkey, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Albania, Moldova, and Ukraine), or in third countries such as Chile, Bolivia and Canada.