A Romanian module specialising in extinguishing wildfires has been operating in Greece for over 14 hours in support of Greek rescuers in areas strongly affected by uncontrolled burning of dry vegetation and wood.
“Amid soaring temperatures, lack of rainfall, low humidity and wind speed, fires developed quickly, affecting considerable areas. The outbreaks, which span several square kilometres, have approached residential areas, and in some cases, the fires have also engulfed homes. Considering the existing risk, the Greek authorities ordered the evacuation of the inhabited areas that were in the vicinity or in the direction of propagation of the flames and smoke,” the General Emergency Management Inspectorate (IGSU) informed on Monday.
The missions of the Romanian firefighters consisted in protecting and extinguishing fires having engulfed homes, as well as in containing wildfires. They worked throughout the night with three wildfire extinguishing machines, a high-capacity extinguishing machine (10,000 litres of water), as well as a 30,000-litre tanker.
Romania’s national forest wildfire extinguishing module has been activated to carry out specific missions of monitoring and extinguishing wildfire outbreaks in Greece, in the locations established by the Greek partners.
The risk forecast for Monday remains at an extremely high level, according to the Greek authorities. The fire risk map published by the General Secretariat for Civil Protection shows that the area where the Romanian module is operating is classified at the same risk level.