Romanian firefighters have completed their mission in Greece, where they supported the Greek authorities in fighting wildfires.

'Today, the final shift is completing its mission and heading home, after bringing the experience and spirit of solidarity of Romanian firefighters to Greece,' the Inspectorate General for Emergency Situations (IGSU) said on Facebook on Wednesday.

According to the IGSU, since the beginning of August, 120 firefighters, in three shifts, have been stationed near Athens, in the town of Nea Makri, alongside Greek firefighters, ready to intervene in support of communities threatened by wildfires.

Throughout the mission, the Romanian module specialised in fighting forest fires carried out monitoring and intervention activities to contain and extinguish fires that broke out in Greece, in areas designated by the Greek authorities.

'Each of our colleagues completed their mission with responsibility and professionalism, far from their families and loved ones, but thinking of the people they could help. Thank you for every day you were on duty, for your efforts and for the way you represented Romania! We thank our Greek firefighter colleagues for their cooperation and for the trust they placed in us throughout this mission,' the quoted source conveyed.

Between 1 August and 15 September, the Department for Emergency Situations (DSU) within the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MAI), through the Inspectorate General for Emergency Situations, participated in Greece with a national module specialised in fighting forest fires, as part of the pre-positioning programme organised by the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO).

The assistance programme, funded by the European Union, was designed as a support measure for communities across Europe, severely affected by devastating fires in previous years. It is part of the EU's new policy to prevent and contain forest fires in southern Europe and gathered in Greece this year operational teams from Romania, the Czech Republic, France and Moldova. AGERPRES (RO - writing by: Georgiana Tanasescu; EN - writing by: Rodica State)