A new contingent of 40 Romanian firefighters has taken over mission in Greece from colleagues who, over the past two weeks, have supported the Greek authorities in firefighting and monitoring high-risk areas in eastern Athens, in the Attica region.

'The first contingent, also comprising 40 firefighters, returned to Romania on Monday after completing its mission. To ensure continuity of operations, they handed over to their colleagues in the second shift the vehicles and equipment used during the interventions: two forest firefighting vehicles with a capacity of 3,000 litres, a 5,000-litre firefighting vehicle, a high-capacity 10,000-litre vehicle, a 30,000-litre water tanker, a first-response and command vehicle equipped with an unmanned aircraft system (UAS), a shortwave radio communications vehicle, a minibus, a container truck and an all-terrain utility vehicle (UTV) equipped with firefighting equipment,' the press office of the Inspectorate General for Emergency Situations (IGSU) said on Monday.

During their 15-day mission, the Romanian firefighters in the first shift responded to fires in several areas of the Attica region, including Imeros Pefkos, Kalivia Thorikou, Loumpa, Megara and Veniza. They also carried out patrols in high-risk fire areas, monitoring and terrain reconnaissance activities, as well as actions aimed at gaining a better understanding of the specific conditions involved in emergency operations in Greece.

'The experience gained during these missions contributes to strengthening response capacity and increasing the level of preparedness for managing emergencies that could endanger human lives and property,' IGSU stressed.

The Romanian firefighters took part in training sessions and joint exercises alongside Greek teams and the French module deployed in Greece. The activities aimed to strengthen cooperation and practise the procedures required for rapid and effective responses to vegetation and forest fires.

The activation and deployment of the specialist forest firefighting module is aimed at carrying out monitoring and firefighting missions to extinguish fires in Greece in areas designated by the local authorities.

From 1 August to 15 September, the Department for Emergency Situations within the Ministry of Internal Affairs, through IGSU, is participating in Greece with a national specialist forest firefighting module as part of the pre-positioning programme organised by the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO).

The EU-funded assistance programme was designed to support communities in Europe that have been severely affected by devastating fires in previous years. It is part of the EU's new policy for preventing and limiting forest fires in southern Europe and this year brings together operational teams from Romania, Czechia, France and the Republic of Moldova in Greece. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Daniel Alexandru Florea; EN - writing by: Adina Panaitescu)