Athens, August 23, 2022 (TDI): Greece supports Portugal in coping with intense forest fires, by sending two Canadair CL-415 through European Union Civil Protection Mechanism, on Monday.
Με δύο αεροσκάφη 🛩️🛩️ Canadair CL-415 η Ελλάδα συνδράμει την Πορτογαλία που δοκιμάζεται από δασικές πυρκαγιές🔥
Άμεση η 🇬🇷 ανταπόκριση στο 🇵🇹 αίτημα μέσω του 🇪🇺Μηχανισμού Πολιτικής Προστασίας 🤝🏻 έμπρακτη #αλληλεγγύη
🔗 https://t.co/2xwip94X8W@EmbaixadaPt_Gr @eu_echo pic.twitter.com/jHmrpDes89
— Civil Protection GR (@GSCP_GR) August 22, 2022
In August, several wildfires have been burning across Portugal, resulting in at least 17 injured people (of which 16 firefighters and one civilian.
Responding to the request of the Portuguese Authorities through the European Civil Protection Mechanism, the government of Greece dispatched two Canadair CL-415 aircraft to Portugal to fight raging wildfires in the country.
“Our country has sent two Canadair CL-415 aircraft to Portugal,” the Ministry of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection, Greece said in a statement.
The request was activated “responding to the relevant request of the Portuguese Authorities through the European Civil Protection Mechanism, as the country is affected by forest fires and expects particularly high temperatures in the coming days,” the Ministry added.
Yesterday, thanks to the EU Civil Protection Mechanism, two firefighting planes from #Greece were dispatched to #Portugal to fight raging wildfires in the country.
Read more 👉 https://t.co/7xLLriwm8d#EUCivilProtection 🇪🇺🇬🇷✈️🇵🇹 pic.twitter.com/PKcZDWmECq
— EU Civil Protection & Humanitarian Aid 🇪🇺 (@eu_echo) August 23, 2022
The firefighting aircraft were deployed in Portugal by order of the Minister of Climate Crisis and Civil Protection of Greece, Christos Stylianidis.
Greece, systematically supported European solidarity “with all its available forces, has provided six times assistance to European countries to deal with forest fires.” Specifically, Three times in Albania, twice in France, and now, in Portugal.
Also Read: Southern EU Countries pledged on Climate Change Crises
Wildfires in Portugal
The country has entered a state of alert, with temperatures expected to reach 38C (100.4F). The state of alert came into force at midnight on Sunday.
These wildfires are threatening several villages in northern Portugal as the country prepares for more heatwave-level temperatures.
“The most affected areas include Castelo Branco district (central Portugal), where 10 firefighters were injured during operations, and Guarda district (north-eastern Portugal),” European Union’s Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) reports.
In addition to that, “the wildfire in Gouveia municipality caused five injuries.” According to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS), the fire risk on 22-23 August is expected to be from very high to extreme over central and southern Portugal, and from high to very high over northern areas of Portugal.
Some 92,000 hectares of land have already burned this year, according to government estimates, with heatwaves and drought.
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