A first contingent of 40 Romanian firefighters will be in Greece starting on August 1, 2026, to support local teams battling fires that have broken out amid high summer temperatures. The firefighters left on Thursday, July 30, for a locality in the Attica region, located approximately 25 kilometres northeast of Athens. The move is part of the pre-positioning programme organized by the Directorate-General for European Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DG ECHO). The assistance programme, financed by the European Union, was designed as a support measure for communities in Europe severely affected by the devastating fires of previous years. It is part of the EU’s new policy for preventing and limiting forest fires in southern Europe and brings together this year, on the territory of the Hellenic Republic, operational crews from Romania, the Czech Republic, France and Moldova.