Three Turkish water-dropping planes and a helicopter that arrived in Greece this week are among the multiple foreign contingents to assist in fire-fighting efforts against the Athens fires. The unit will be based at the Dekelia field in the greater Athens area.
Ankara offered assistance to Athens this week in the wake of a major conflagration in northeast Attica prefecture (northeast of the Athens-Piraeus region), with the latter accepting.
The aircraft is identified as the single-seat, single-engine Air Tractor model, while a Sikorsky chopper will also operate with the trio. The Turkish unit of pilots and ground crew have been embedded with Greece’s fire brigade.
Additionally, two Jordanian planes of the same type and a helicopter, along with their crews, have arrived in Greece and will be based at the Tatoi airfield, north of Athens.
France, Italy, the Czech Republic, Serbia and Romania have already dispatched sizable units and equipment to the east Mediterranean country after the EU Civil Protection Mechanism was activated by Greek authorities due to the devastating Athens-area wildfire.
Specifically, the French contingent numbers 200 fire-fighters operating 28 vehicles; 44 fire-fighters from Romania with four vehicles, and 35 fire-fighters from Serbia with 10 vehicles.
By Monday afternoon, Meteo.gr reported that the burned area had already reached approximately 100,000 acres after the Athens fires, which began in Varnavas, northeast of the Greek capital, rapidly spreading to multiple regions, including residential areas Athens. This figure is expected to rise as the fire continues to rage in several scattered locations through Tuesday.
