In the future, the EU wants to counter forest fires in Europe with more fire-fighting aircraft. The fleet is to be increased.
Strasbourg – In view of the devastating forest fires across Europe in the summer, EU Commission President Ursula von der Leyen has announced that aerial firefighting will be doubled. “The European Union will add ten light firefighting aircraft and three additional helicopters to its fleet,” she said during her State of the Union address in Strasbourg on Wednesday.
Europe needs more capacities to be able to react to the natural disasters that are occurring with increasing frequency and intensity. This year, for example, fire-fighting aircraft from Greece, Sweden and Italy were sent to France and Germany to extinguish forest fires. This summer many forests burned in Germany, for example in the Harz Mountains and in Saxon Switzerland. dpa
