As Europe heats up, EU forms 300‑firefighter unit to fight large wildfires
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Europe is entering a new era of wildfire risk — and the European Union is responding with its most ambitious cross‑border firefighting initiative to date, as reported by Euro Weekly news and others.
On 6 February 2026, the European Commission announced the creation of a 300‑member rapid‑reaction wildfire force, a continent‑wide team designed to deploy within hours when national services are overwhelmed.
The announcement came in Nicosia, Cyprus, where EU Climate Commissioner Wopke Hoekstra briefed environment and civil‑protection ministers on the lessons of the catastrophic 2025 wildfire season — the worst since EU records began in 2006, with more than one million hectares burned across the bloc.
Hoekstra described the new force as “a clear sign of solidarity” and a structural shift in how Europe mobilizes resources during climate‑driven disasters.
A Force Built for Speed and Cross‑Border Coordination
The new 300‑firefighter unit will operate under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) and be coordinated by the Emergency Response Coordination Centre (ERCC) in Brussels. When a member state requests help, the ERCC will match available teams, organize logistics, and co‑finance deployment costs.
Unlike national brigades, which must prioritize domestic readiness during high‑risk periods, this EU‑level force is pre‑contracted and guaranteed to be available, ensuring that countries facing simultaneous crises can still receive support.
The unit is not intended to replace national services but to act as surge capacity — a rapid‑deployment reinforcement that can intervene early, before fires escalate into multi‑day megafires.
Pre‑positioned Firefighters
Since 2022, the EU has stationed multinational crews in high‑risk southern countries during summer. In 2025, 671 firefighters from 14 member states were deployed across France, Greece, Portugal, Spain, and Italy.
rescEU Aerial Fleet
The EU’s shared aerial firefighting fleet now includes 18 planes and four helicopters, with 12 more aircraft funded in 2024 and entering service over the coming years.
Cyprus‑Based Regional Hub
European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen previously announced plans for a regional firefighting hub in Cyprus, intended to support both EU and Middle Eastern wildfire responses.
Why Europe Needs a New Firefighting Model
The EU’s decision is driven by a stark reality: wildfires in Europe are becoming more frequent, more intense, and more synchronized across borders.
According to Copernicus data, heatwaves are now longer and more severe, droughts are intensifying, and fire seasons are starting earlier and ending later.
The 2025 season included a devastating 11‑day period in August when over 500,000 hectares burned in Portugal and Spain alone.
A study by World Weather Attribution (WWA) found that the 2025 fires were 22% more intense due to climate change, with week‑long periods of hot, dry air now 13 times more likely than in the pre‑industrial era.
These conditions create a dangerous scenario: multiple countries facing major fires simultaneously, making it harder for them to share resources. National authorities often hold back equipment and personnel when domestic risk is high, even if neighbouring states request help.
The new EU force is designed to break that bottleneck.
A Structural Shift in Europe’s Wildfire Strategy
Experts describe the initiative as a “structural upgrade” to Europe’s wildfire response system — not because it adds large numbers of firefighters, but because it guarantees availability, coordination, and speed.
Teams will be on standby during peak fire months, deploy within hours, and integrate directly into the host country’s incident command structure. The ERCC will manage strategy, logistics, and redeployment, ensuring that resources flow where they are needed most.
A Continent Preparing for a New Fire Reality
Europe’s wildfire landscape is changing faster than its institutions were designed to handle. The new 300‑firefighter force is the EU’s clearest acknowledgment yet that wildfires are no longer a seasonal southern problem — they are a pan‑European climate emergency.
As Commissioner Hoekstra put it, the initiative is “a huge step forward compared to five years ago” — but also a sign that more will be needed as the continent adapts to a hotter, drier, and more volatile future.
Illustration Credit:
Illustration executed by Chat GPT from a prompt by Bjorn Ulfsson, CTIF.
Further Reading:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/cyprus-ursula-von-der-leyen-european-commiss…?
https://greekreporter.com/2026/02/10/eu-launches-300-member-rapid-wildfire-response-force/?