20 Civil Protection Department Officials have gone to Greece to assist the Greek authorities in putting out fires, the government said.
Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri and the Director of the Civil Protection Department Peter Paul Coleiro said that this support is being given after months ago 32 CPD officials had gone to Turkey to assist in the rescue of people in the aftermath of earthquakes.
Camilleri said that this is the first time a CPD contingent is being sent abroad to provide firefighting assistance. He said that this is possible as over the past years these officials were well trained, and as there was a lot of investment in their training and resources.
"The Civil Protection is again showing solidarity with another country, where this time we received a request from the Greek Government, which we are fulfilling through the European mechanism. These officials will be assisting in putting out wildfires, and apart from providing assistance, this experience will serve as training and expertise for situations we may face in our country. While these officials are in Greece, Malta has all the necessary resources to continue assisting in any incident that may occur. We are taking giant steps in Civil Protection, where this Department is not only excelling in our country, but is also helping other countries," said Minister Camilleri.
Coleiro said that since the beginning of the year, 5,200 wildfires occurred in Greece and 1,250 hectares were burnt.
"In this case, we received a direct request from the Greek Civil Protection, due to the fact that Maltese firefighters come from the same region and are experienced in Mediterranean summer operations, as well as being familiar with fighting fires in terrain similar to that in Greece. We could not remain passive in this call, in response to this request. We obtained immediate support from the Ministry, and as a result, a team of 20 firefighters will work alongside our Greek colleagues for two weeks," said Coleiro.
They are expected to remain in Greece until the end of July.