The heatwave in Europe raises the risk of fires, prompting the EU to activate its emergency mechanism for on-ground assistance. How does this mechanism work?
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00:00The European Union's emergency mechanism called the Civil Protection Mechanism is in top gear
00:06to respond to the rising danger of forest fires across the region.
00:10Through its member states, the Union has a fleet of 28 water-bombing aircraft and four helicopters.
00:17According to the EU Commission, men on the ground can also be mobilized.
00:21Fires are affecting the south of the continent in Croatia, Italy, Greece and neighboring countries.
00:30We also have pre-positioned 500, actually more than 500 firefighters
00:34in four southern European member states of the European Union.
00:38These are France, these are Portugal, but also Spain and Greece.
00:41They can be called upon to help the local first responders if the need arises.
00:46According to the EU Commission, member states can draw from satellite images from the Copernicus system,
00:52the European Earth Observation Program.
00:55To obtain this support, member states will have to contact the Emergency Response Coordination Center in Brussels,
01:01which operates every day of the week.
01:04The national authorities transmit their requests for assistance, which are then forwarded to the various capitals.
01:10The procedure can be very rapid.
01:16This is a crisis situation, so we try to act as quickly as possible.
01:21This can take a matter of hours, sometimes a bit longer, sometimes even just a matter of minutes.
01:26But I think the general principle is that we are trying to act as quickly as possible,
01:30since often human lives are at stake.
01:33About 600 million euros have been released by the EU to purchase 12 water bomber aircraft,
01:40which will be available by the end of the decade.
01:43The EU's civil protection mechanism was activated 10 times last year
01:48to provide assistance to member states and to countries outside the continent.
01:53By mid-summer, the mechanism had already been called upon five times.