Commission co-ordinates EU aid to fight forest
Forest fires in France burnt more than 30,000 ha and in Portugal 54 000 ha. Five people have died in France and 9 people in Portugal. Assistance has been provided by Italy (1 helicopter, 2 Canadair), Spain (2 Canadair), Greece (2 Canadair) and Germany (3 helicopters) to France and by Italy (2 Canadair) to Portugal. Germany and Norway also offered assistance to Portugal. The EU Response Centre has been active since January 2002 and operates on a permanent basis 24 hours a day. It co-ordinates the assistance offered by the participating countries in case of natural or man-made disasters inside and outside the EU. This response centre is the key element of the Community Civil Protection Co-operation Mechanism, established under Council Decision of 23 October 2001 (1) and in force since 1 January 2002. This instrument provides a new challenge in the field of Civil Protection in Europe. Environment Commissioner Margot Wallström said: "It is particularly on the occasion of major emergency crises that European citizens must feel that EU solidarity is not just a slogan, and that they can rely on effective and reliable institutions. Co-operation between the Commission and the Member States for all types of major civil protection emergencies has become more and more essential and the EU Response Centre has once again demonstrated its capability to react quickly and efficiently. It is important that Member States and third countries faced with an emergency can benefit from a "one stop shop" of specialised personnel and resources." The Rapid Response Centre was active for example during the floods in Central Europe in August 2002 and the Prestige accident in November 2002. Participants in this mechanism are the 15 Member States, the three EEA countries and eleven accession countries that have signed a Memorandum of Understanding. Thus about 480 million Europeans are covered. The European Forest Information System: High-tech fire forecasting to protect forest areas at risk The European Commission has been supporting forest fire-fighting services across Europe since the year 2000, by providing daily maps highlighting the probability of natural fire risks - one, two, and three days ahead of time. Every year over 50,000 fires turn an average of half a million hectares of forest into ashes causing enormous loss in terms of human life and environmental damage. The early warning mechanisms to detect the imminent risk of fire help (1) Council decision of 23 October 2001 establishing a Community mechanism to facilitate reinforced co-operation in civil protection assistance interventions (2001/792/EC, Euratom). civil protection and forest fire services in EU Member States to boost their fire fighting strategies. European Research Commissioner Philippe Busquin said: By co-ordinating and sharing information between EU Member States, we can greatly reduce the risk of fire devastation, better protect our citizens and preserve our natural habitats. However, this technology is powerless in the face of criminal activities and I can only hope that the perpetrators of the fires we have witnessed recently in France will be brought to account for the tragic consequences of their crimes. A coherent forest fire information system in Europe Although the risk of forest fire is influenced by many different factors that fluctuate in a wide time and space scale, the calculation of fire risks was until recently performed at a local level. In response to the problem, the European Commission (EC) developed a coherent forest fire information system for Europe. DG Environment and the Joint Research Centre (JRC) have established the European Forest Information System (EFFIS), with the aim of providing a pan-European approach to the evaluation of long-term and short-term forest fire risks, as well as in the evaluation of forest fire damage. EFFIS uses special indices for the evaluation of the fire risk, among them the Fire Potential Index (FPI) that takes into account differences between regions, dynamic variables such as the vegetation's relative greenness, hydric stress, meteorological conditions, as well as fairly static factors, such as the forest vegetation type. The fire risk forecast maps computed by EFFIS are distributed every morning via Internet to the civil protection and forest fire services in the Member States, as well as to the Civil Protection services of DG Environment. These maps constitute an additional source of information for the Member States and are essential to reinforce international collaboration during forest fire fighting campaigns. All information on forest fire risk forecast provided to the Member States is available to any interested body through the Internet site of the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS). For further information please visit:,The EU Response Center: http://europa.eu.int/comm/environment/civil/,Fire(opens in new window) Information System (EFFIS) at the following address:,http://natural-hazards.jrc.it/effis. The JRC, DG Environment and the Member States publish a yearly report of the fire situation in Europe. The latest issue, for the fire campaign of 2002, as well as previous issues, is available at http://natural-hazards.jrc.it/fires/publications.html(opens in new window) The following background notes are also available on request:,- Forest Fires in Southern France - July 2003,- The EU Response Centre,(1) Council decision of 23 October 2001 establishing a Community mechanism to facilitate reinforced co-operation in civil protection assistance interventions (2001/792/EC, Euratom).,