It’s burning all over France. The third heatwave of the year peaked in the country this Friday with between 38 and 41C in the country, a heat that exhausted the hundreds of French firefighters on the frontlines from a multitude of fires. In France, the number of hectares burned in the last ten years is three times the annual average and since the surveys began in 2006, the year has been a record in the European Union. Fortunately, European solidarity is on the move. But what are our neighbors doing to help us fight the flames? 20 Minutes takes stock of the reinforcements.
firefighters from elsewhere
Of course, on the front line to mock these fires are our firefighters. Currently, 1,100 French firefighters are fighting day and night against a resumption of fire from the gigantic Landiras fire, while in July already 14,000 hectares in the area went up in smoke. 361 European firefighters made their way to the southwest of France to support us.
On Thursday afternoon, 65 German firefighters and 24 vehicles had already arrived. Dozens more firefighters are expected in the coming days with their trucks from Romania, Poland and Austria. “The Romanians and the Germans will be there at dawn tomorrow,” assured the press Martin Guespereau, Delegate Prefect for Defense and Security in the Gironde. To strengthen our workforce.
water bomber
In the fight against fire, water bombers are the sinews of war. The French civil defense has 22 aircraft, but in the face of global warming they are becoming insufficient and French President Emmanuel Macron has announced his intention to strengthen our (aging) fleet in the coming years. In the meantime, at the request of the French authorities, four aircraft from the EU firefighting fleet have been dispatched from Greece and Sweden, the EU executive said.
Emmanuel Macron announced that Italy would also send “several Canadair”. The President of the Republic spoke by telephone with the Italian Prime Minister Mario Draghi “to coordinate the reinforcements,” his entourage said. The European firefighting fleet consists of 12 aircraft and one helicopter from six Member States based in Croatia, France, Greece, Italy, Spain and Sweden. It is fully funded by the EU. Paris has also acquired two additional Canadairs for 2025 as part of a European bulk order.
sky monitoring
Aside from the metal birds pouring cubic meters of water on our dying forests, European surveillance is also being organized from the skies. The Commission has announced that the EU’s Copernicus satellite has been activated from Paris to collect vital data for first responders to burned areas. Copernicus is the earth observation program of the European Union.
Since 2014, eight satellites have been placed in orbit around the blue planet to observe it from all angles. In particular, the “Sentinel-2” satellite is a valuable tool for monitoring the state of vegetation and, in particular, forests. This view of the sky allows firefighters to better understand the progression of a wildfire and organize their response accordingly.