Moldovan firemen participate in first mission of extinguishing fires in Greece

Chisinau, 18 July /MOLDPRES/ - A team of firemen for terrestrial fighting of forest fires of the General Inspectorate for Emergency Situations (IGSU), detached to Greece, on 17 July intervened in its first mission of extinguishing a forest fire in the Epidaurus settlement.      

According to IGSU, at 11:57, the Unit No 4 received information on the breaking out of a forest fire in the area of Epidaurus, nearby the Corfu town, 137 km far from the Operation Base, where Moldova’s team is deployed.    

Thirty two local teams and aircrafts with strength of over 120 firemen, specialized in such operations, were already involved on the spot.

The team of Moldova, made up of 10 firemen and three specialized technology teams, was mobilized to back efforts of extinguishing by Greek firemen in this emergency situation. The Moldovan wiremen worked jointly with Greek authorities, in order to extinguish the fire, monitor and secure the area hit.    

The fire was localized by 20:37. According to data, 125 vehicles, 12 airships/helicopters intervened for extinguishing the fire, with the flames hitting about 550 hectares of wood. The firemen’s team of Moldova intervened on an area of about five hectares. On 17 July evening, the fires were localized and extinguished successfully due to the joint effort of all forces involved.     

During 16 July – 15 August 2024, a team of firemen for terrestrial fighting of fires of the Interior Ministry’ s IGSU participates in the prepositioning mission of the European Prepositioning Programme of the Forest Fires Extinguishing Teams in Greece, Nea-Makri region. The programme is organized within the EU’s Civil Protection Mission and its main goal is to improve the capacity of response and interoperability between the equipment and intervention teams from different European countries.