A contingent of 40 officers from the Civil Protection Department are being sent to Greece to help their Greek colleagues fight the wildfires breaking out across the country.

This was announced in a news conference by Home Affairs Minister Byron Camilleri, who explained that this will be the fourth international operation in two years by the CPD.

It was explained that currently half of Greece is on alert due to the possibility of fires caused by a strong heatwave, drought and lack of water.

Next Monday, the CPD will send the first contingent of twenty officers to Patras in Greece and at the end of July they will be replaced by another contingent of twenty officers.

The second contingent will return to Malta in mid-August. Two volunteers from non-governmental organisations will also go with them, one from the Emergency Fire and Rescue Unit and another from the St John’s Rescue Corps.

The CPD has already sent by sea several vehicles that will be used by the Maltese firefighters in Greece.

Minister Camilleri said that in recent years the CPD had made an unprecedented investment in tools, training and conditions of the workers, making it possible for the CPD to protect and carry out rescue operations on the Maltese Islands as well as overseas.

Director General of CPD Peter Paul Coleiro said that the department will still have enough resources to provide a service locally thanks to the investment made by the government.

He also appealed to the Maltese public to be more aware in these months about the danger of fires in dry areas in the countryside.

Photo: DOI

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