European firefighters in Greece to prepare for climate change back home

Early in the morning at the Nea Makri fire station on the outskirts of Athens, dozens of firefighters gather in front of their fire trucks for the morning roll call. Look closely and you'll see that most of their uniforms are emblazoned with the word "Pompierii." This is the latest group of Romanian firefighters to visit the country as part of the EU Prepositioning Program.

Greece is accustomed to welcoming foreign firefighters to assist with large forest fires during the summer season, but this group is not here for the usual emergency assistance.

The program was launched in 2022 and is managed by the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM). As part of it, 555 firefighters from 12 European countries were deployed from June 15 to September 15 in the countries most affected by the wildfires in Southern Europe (France, Portugal, Spain and Greece). Greece hosted almost half...