Firefighting aircraft from Greece and Sweden will arrive in France on Thursday while other EU governments including Germany, Poland, Austria and Romania are also mobilizing resources to help France fight its raging wildfires, the French government announced.
“Today, we benefit fully from European solidarity,” Borne told reporters during a visit to the town of Hostens at the heart of the fires of the Gironde region in southwest France. More than half of this year’s fires occurred in Gironde.
A total of four planes from Greece and Sweden are expected to arrive in France today, as well as a team of 64 people and 24 vehicles from Germany, according to the Élysée Palace.
The Gironde fires have burned more than 6,800 hectares of forest, and nearly 1,100 firefighters are involved with more on the way. As of Thursday morning, 10,000 people have been evacuated from the area, according to the regional authority.
“The conditions are particularly difficult: the vegetation and the soil are…
