EU wildfire hub shifts aircraft to France and Spain

European Union officials in Brussels are coordinating aircraft, helicopters and other equipment as wildfires burn in France and Spain and put pressure on emergency resources.

Maria Zuber, head of the EU emergency coordination unit, said Wednesday that her team was monitoring wildfire risk in France and was in continuous contact with French authorities about whether they needed more support.

The EU's emergency response capacity pools assets including water-bombing planes, helicopters and fire trucks from the bloc's 27 member states and 10 other countries, including the Western Balkans and Turkey.

Aircraft from Slovakia, Slovenia, Portugal and Turkey have been deployed to southwestern France since Paris asked for EU help last week.

"We still have some gaps, so we are looking," Zuber said. "This past night Serbia offered additional helicopters."

The Brussels centre helps match available assistance with requests from countries facing emergencies, from wildfires to earthquakes. Several dozen officials are on duty at any one time, with about 25 weather and fire experts from EU member states supporting the work during the summer.

Borja Miguelez, deputy head of the emergency centre, said the EU had increased the availability of aerial resources and improved the technical capacity of teams managing emergency response.

Miguelez said simultaneous large fires in France and Spain were straining resources and crews on the ground, but that the EU had so far met all requests for assistance.

He said the centre remained alert because more extreme heat was expected and summer was not over.

The EU is also bolstering the equipment at its disposal by buying its own aircraft and asking countries to put more equipment on standby.