What tools does the EU have to fight fires? - Over 430 thousand hectares of forests have burned
Europe is facing another summer of devastating wildfires. Data from the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) on July 30 shows that more than 434,976 hectares have burned since the beginning of 2026. So far, 1,407 fires have been detected, releasing an estimated 17.98 million tonnes of CO₂.
The EU has spent the past two years building what it calls a more serious and integrated fire strategy with new funding. At the heart of the system is the Civil Protection Mechanism, a solidarity framework that allows an overwhelmed country to request assistance from other member states. It is not activated automatically: a country must request assistance, usually after determining that a fire has exceeded its capacity.
This process is led by the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) in Brussels, which matches offers of aircraft, crews and equipment with any country in need, and helps co-finance the transport.
For the 2026 season, the Commission put 22 firefighting planes, 5 helicopters, 777 firefighters from 14 countries and 21 certified teams in 12 countries on standby. As the fires in Spain and France escalated, France took seven planes and four helicopters, drawing teams and planes from the Czech Republic, Croatia, Germany, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden and Turkey.
Spain received six planes and three ground crews, with help arriving from Greece, Italy, Portugal and Turkey. Five Canadian planes were split between the two. Commissioner Hadja Lahbib said the mechanism was "under pressure" but insisted it was "working".
In March, the Commission presented a communication on integrated forest fire risk management, recasting the EU’s approach to prevention, preparedness, response and recovery as a continuous cycle rather than a seasonal rush for planes. It acknowledged that Europe had spent years treating symptoms rather than causes, fighting ever-increasing fires rather than stopping the landscape from becoming so flammable. Four months later, little of this has been translated into new rules.
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