The forest fire contingent launched from North Rhine-Westphalia on Sunday to assist with the devastating forest fires in Greece arrived on the Peloponnese peninsula on Tuesday afternoon and will subsequently be deployed to the western part of the peninsula on the instructions of the local command. The forest fire module, which consists of a total of 57 emergency personnel and 19 vehicles from the fire brigades of Bonn, Königswinter and Leverkusen and is registered in the European Civil Protection Mechanism, is supported in this operation by a supply unit from Malteser Hilfsdienst and the German Red Cross from Bonn and specialist advisors from the aid organisation @fire.
On Sunday morning, after the official request from Brussels had been received and a positive decision had been made to send them, the task forces from NRW set off. After an overnight stop at the Tyrol Regional Fire Brigade School, Austria, the task forces continued on to Ancona, Italy, for a ferry connection to Greece. The time on the ferry was used for regeneration, and also for further training on the operational equipment and hand tools that will be used in the course of the mission.
Two executives from the Bonn fire brigade travelled to Athens by plane on Monday and serve as liaison officers in the local emergency management. This allowed important contacts to be made and information to be exchanged in the run-up to the arrival of the actual forest fire module.
After the arrival of the forest fire module at its destination, a base is to be set up there to ensure the supply of the emergency forces and to set up sleeping facilities and sanitary facilities.
