site.btaSecond Bulgarian Firefighting Crew Goes to Greece to Help Fight Wildfires

A second crew of Bulgarian firefighters was stationed in the Greek city of Larissa on July 16, Petar Petrov, Head of the Specialized Operating Activities department to the Fire Safety and Civil Protection Service in Plovdiv, told BTA. Bulgaria sends firefighters and equipment to Greece under a European Commission initiative for the prepositioning of 200 firefighters and vehicles in that country. Launched this year, the initiative is taking place under the EU's Exchange of Experts in Civil Protection Programme.

The second Bulgarian crew consists of 16 firefighters from the fire services in Sofia, Plovdiv (Southern Bulgaria) and Blagoevgrad (Southwestern Bulgaria), Petrov said. It will replace the first one, which was stationed in Greece on July 1.

Bulgaria is contributing a module set up in 2018 for dealing with wildfires. It underwent a certification process in the rescEU reserve in 2019. The module includes three off-road fire engines, three minibuses and an off-road vehicle.

During July and August, about 200 firefighters from other EU countries will be positioned in Greece and will work side by side with Greek fire brigades. The EU firefighters come from Bulgaria, Finland, France, Germany, Romania and Norway.