Advance detachments of firefighters from six European countries – Bulgaria, Romania, Germany, France, Finland, and Norway – will arrive in the country ahead of the fire season, a high-level meeting in Athens decided on Thursday, ekathimerini.com reports.
These units, which will be based in Athens, Larissa, and Tripoli, are being financed by the European Commission.
The working meeting at the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection decided that the armed forces would be deployed in high-risk areas to man ground patrols to prevent forest fires, thus freeing up members of the fire service and police.
The meeting, which was attended by Prime Minister Kyriakos Mitsotakis, agreed to boost air surveillance with single-engine Air Tractor and PZL aircraft in areas with a fire risk level of 4 or 5.
It was also announced that a dedicated fire service unit for fighting forest fires will have a total strength of 590 officers, 90 of whom have received specialized training.
The meeting also heard that municipalities had been given the power to clear the land where owners are negligent or unknown.
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Photo Source: Wikimedia Commons License: CC-BY-SA Copyright: Konstantinos Stampoulis
