Huge fires in France: Romania sends 77 firefighters to Bordeaux for the first time, with two NATO planes

Romania is sending 77 firefighters, special vehicles and other means of intervention to France, to help put out the huge fires that are wreaking havoc near the city of Bordeaux, announced Thursday the head of the DSU, Raed Arafat.

The head of the Department for Emergency Situations (DSU), Raed Arafat, said on Thursday that France requested air and ground aid on Wednesday.

Air support has also been provided by other countries, including Greece, which is also dealing with massive forest fires. France’s request was that the planes could be refueled from the sea.

Romania has determined that it can offer a land intervention module, and France has accepted the help, Arafat declares. Especially in this mission is the very large distance.

“Following the analysis, we decided to use aircraft from the strategic transport base that belong to NATO forces, and two C17 aircraft, very large transport aircraft, will arrive today. One plane will land in Bucharest and one in Timișoara”, said the head of the Department for Emergency Situations.

Meanwhile, the IGSU has mobilized the response forces which will consist of 7 officers and 70 non-commissioned fire officers.

In addition to 17 means of intervention, which include at least 8 machines with extinguishing capacity and 2 water tankers, other means of intervention come to support the firefighters.

“Firefighters were mobilized to Bucharest and Timișoara from several counties, and the means of intervention and personnel were to be transported by the 2 C 17 military planes to the Bordeaux airport in France. So, from our point of view, this is the first time that we are sending technical means and fire trucks with quite a large capacity.

Our intervention forces will be at the disposal of colleagues in France and ready to intervene, without being tired, after crossing thousands of kilometers to France”, declared Arafat.

The planes are expected to arrive at Base 90 and Timișoara and are allocated 3 hours for loading and anchoring.

“The cars will already be in Timișoara and Bucharest, arrived. We are waiting for the last car to arrive in Bucharest from Piatra Neamț, at 18.00, which means that everything will be ready to be loaded. And we hope that he will be able to leave this very night,” the head of the DSU said.

Ciucă: Romania stands in solidarity with France. We prove the ability to be a partner that allies can rely on

Romania stands in solidarity with France, a state that is facing extensive vegetation fires these days, our country thus proving its ability to be “a partner that allies can rely on”, Prime Minister Nicolae Ciucă said on Thursday.

“Romania stands in solidarity with France, our traditional partner and friend, which is facing extensive vegetation fires these days. Following the consultation with the President of Romania, Mr. Klaus Iohannis, today we convened the National Committee for Emergency Situations to establish our intervention alongside other member states, within the European Civil Protection Mechanism. Two military aircraft with means of intervention and 77 rescue firefighters will soon arrive on French territory, to offer the expression of Romanian solidarity and concrete support for extinguishing the fires”, Ciucă said, according to a post on the Government’s Facebook page.

He thanked the Department for Emergency Situations for the mobilization and wished success to the Romanian firefighters.

“Just like in the case of the Hellenic Republic, when Romania made an important contribution to extinguishing the fires, and now we are proving our ability to be a partner that the allies can rely on,” the message sent by the prime minister also states.

Macron thanked Romania

The President of France, Emmanuel Macron, previously announced that several European countries, including Romania, are contributing to the efforts to extinguish the fires in France.

“Germany, Greece, Poland and in the following hours Romania and Austria: our partners are coming to the aid of France in the face of the fires. I thank them. European solidarity is implemented”, wrote Emmanuel Macron on his Twitter account.

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Publisher: IC