EU Civil Protection Mechanism activated to help fight forest fires in Montenegro
EU Civil Protection Mechanism activated to help fight forest fires in Montenegro
16 July 2012
published by http://ec.europa.eu
Montenegro –– The European Commission has activated the European Union civil protection mechanism during the weekend to help Montenegro fight the forest fires in the north of the country. In response to Montenegro’s request for assistance, two fire fighting helicopters from Croatia already arrived to the country and joined the fire fighting operations in the affected area.
The request for assistance from Montenegro came last Saturday with Croatian helicopters joining the fire fighting operations already on Sunday. The European Commission’s Monitoring and Information Center (MIC) follows the development of the situation and remains in contact with the authorities in Podgorica. MIC will keep the Member States informed of further developments.
The risk of forest fires remains high across Europe, due to the continuing heat wave and low precipitation. The EU Civil Protection Mechanism remains at the disposal of its participating states to coordinate the provision of assistance if needed. The Commission’s civil protection experts are constantly monitoring the risks for and evolution of forest fires in Europe and are in regular contact with their national counterparts so that a fast and coordinated reaction can be provided in case of new emergencies.
