Tens of thousands of people have been forced to evacuate in France and Spain, and a national state of emergency has been declared in Spain.
The forest fires raging in southern Europe have prompted both Spain and France to activate the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (ERCC) to receive international support and reinforcements in their fight to extinguish the fires.
Sweden is ready
France can count on reinforcements in the form of two Croatian planes to extinguish forest fires from the air, two planes from Portugal and two Black Hawk helicopters from the Czech Republic and Slovakia, French President Emmanuel Macron announced on the X platform. Help is also coming from Sweden.
We are also prepared to send two national scooping planes to the country that the ERCC assigns to us upon acceptance, says Jonas Klint, press secretary at the Swedish Civil Defence Agency.
Prime Minister Ulf Kristersson (M) writes on X that Sweden is now assisting "France in the fight against the extensive forest fires."
"The operation shows the strength of Sweden's civil preparedness. That we can quickly mobilize resources and help another country is clear evidence of the capability we are building - for Sweden's security and for a stronger Europe," writes Kristersson and thanks the crews and other Swedish personnel.
To get the operation underway as efficiently as possible, MCF is also preparing to send team leaders as early as Friday. Whether it will be to France, Spain or both countries is still unclear.
“Stable weather conditions”
An operation will probably last seven to eight days, says Jonas Klint.
Nationally, we have a relatively stable weather situation, from a forest fire perspective, he says.
Sweden has two bucket-lift aircraft qualified for use in European crisis cooperation. For these aircraft, the EU finances the lion's share of the costs for preparedness and response, while Sweden serves as the host country.
