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Commander Ioanniois still has fresh snapshots of the flames that devoured the landscapes of the Greek island of Eubea last month, a nature reserve included in the Natura 2000 Network. The forest fire was the fire test of RescEU, a new system designed by the European Commission to respond to natural disasters, such as those expected to be increasingly common due to climate change. From devastating fires to historical floods such as those that the cold drop has just caused in the Spanish Levante. It is also expected to act in case of earthquakes.
"When you are trying to extinguish the fire, there is no time to think. It is after work when the images begin to assault you. In those moments, you just want to collect water as soon as possible at the nearest point, lake or sea, and download it over the fires ", tells the WORLD the pilot, a member of 'Proteus', a squad of the Hellenic army dedicated to fighting the ravages of fire.
In August, in the middle of marathon days and evictions of hundreds of residents of Euboea, three amphibious Canadair planes - two from Italy and one from Spain - came to his aid. That cooperation formally inaugurated a system, still under construction, that seeks to complete and improve the response of the European Civil Protection in times of extreme need.
"When Greece activated the mechanism, RescEU was immediately launched. The experts at the emergency response coordination center in Brussels decided on the means to be sent. Italian planes arrived in Greece five or six hours later. The Spanish, in 7 or 8 hours. It was the fastest response to remember, "says Cypriot Christos Stylianides, about to leave the post of European Commissioner for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management. The initiative also aims to simplify administrative procedures to reduce response time.
The project began to set in the summer of 2017, when the fires gave no respite in Portugal. The one that originated in June in the municipality of Pedrógão Grande calcined about 45,000 hectares and reaped 65 lives. "Then Europe failed the Portuguese. We leave them alone. We cannot allow disasters like Portugal's to recur," Stylianides sings.
Since then, the commissioner has had to go the long way of convincing the most reluctant countries - "I visited 95 percent of the Länder, whose hands are Civil Protection in Germany," he recalls - and put together the first budget, of around 280 million euros.
National capacities overflowed
"Today we have a pyramid structure of three levels: the first is the one that constitutes national capacities and resources; the second is the voluntary pool [the bag of equipment willing to intervene in case of emergencies, inaugurated with the Ebola crisis in 2014]; and on the cusp is RescEU, which is set in motion when we face extraordinary cases and national capabilities are overwhelmed, "says the Cypriot politician.
So far, only seven countries have joined the new system. France, Italy, Spain, Sweden, Croatia, Greece and Cyprus have been enlisted in an initiative that, in the words of the President of the European Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker, "guarantees a solid solidarity with the Member States struck by disasters." The initial fleet, consisting of 15 devices, is still limited: Croatia, Italy, Greece and Spain have contributed two Canadair planes - whose water tanks have a capacity of 6 tons - while France has contributed a Dash - with ten tons of capacity -; and six helicopters have been ceded by Sweden. Paradoxically, Portugal - the country whose traumatic experience encouraged the experience - does not integrate the mechanism.
"The accessions are slow because a series of national procedures are required and each country has its process," Stylianides justifies, confident that his successors will bet on a lifeguard in a world that already suffers from the consequences of global warming. Last year the European Union received a dozen requests from its member states to provide assistance in the event of fires or episodes of marine pollution. Nearly a hundred people lost their lives on the continent because of fire. Three years ago the costs caused by natural disasters amounted to 10,000 million euros.
"There are countries like Sweden that have never suffered a phenomenon like fires. It doesn't matter how big the country is and the resources it has. No one can deal with only the natural disasters that lie ahead," warns Stylianides.
In just a decade, climate change-related disasters - from floods to storms and forest fires - will leave 150 million people in need of help every year, according to a report by the International Federation of the Red Cross published about days. The annual costs will be 29,000 million dollars (about 26,500 million euros). Increasingly frequent, unpredictable and destructive, natural phenomena will require unprecedented emergency assistance.
The Commission - which has reinforced surveillance equipment in the months prior to the summer season and intensified the field exercises - rewards countries involved in RescEU with financing of 90 percent of the cost of acquiring the equipment and 75 percent of the operating costs - transportation and maintenance - during the period of operation of the device, between June 15 and October 31.
"The member countries buy the equipment financed by the Commission," the Cypriot explains. The consideration, however, is that, in case of emergency of another European State and activation of the program, the teams attached to RescEU will have to go to the site of the disaster, if so determined by experts from Brussels. In August, that eventuality was already fulfilled. With Gran Canaria suffering the tragedy of the flames, a Spanish amphibious plane headed the route to Greece. "Despite the devastating fires in the Canary Islands, Spain accepted the order. It is an important fact and I would like to thank it publicly," said the commissioner.
"It was a very necessary help. Increasingly, we have to face a greater number of fires," says Commander Ioanniois from the base of Elefsina, about 18 kilometers northwest of Athens. "The cooperation was fantastic. We have worked together on other occasions," he says. RescEU will be in tests until 2025 but sources of the Commission advance that already work in the design of a network of bases in which the equipment will be distributed "with the objective of being more efficient and being closer to the risk areas".
Technical decisions, not political
"The site map will not be a political decision but a technical and scientific one," argues Stylianides, who considers prevention and preparation "the most important pillar." "Without prevention, even buying hundreds of helicopters and airplanes, we cannot deal with this problem. It would be an illusion," he admits.
An edge that provokes criticism from experts such as Joaquín Ramírez Cisneros, professor of Agroforestry Engineering in Fire, Hydrology and Pathways at the University of León. "I have my doubts about whether the EU is up to par. Professionals from different countries are," says the founder of Tecnosylva, a company that has developed an award-winning application to predict the spread and behavior of forest fire fronts .
"There is goodwill and professionalism. What is missing is to be proactive and not reactive. That happens to develop cooperation before the emergency. During the same, of course it must be done but it does not make a difference," says Ramírez. Brussels seeks to strengthen cooperation in the surveillance of cross-border disaster risks and information exchange; increase support for preventive tasks through consultation mechanisms, sending experts and developing follow-up recommendations; and link it with other European policies.
"A lively and dynamic environment"
"Everything happens because we understand that we live in a dynamic and lively environment, in need of human intervention from the moment we live and suffer in it. We must do forest management first; understand, then, how to live in balance and stop seeing the rural world as a plot presented by stripes here, forests there and national parks beyond. It is a complex that needs management to avoid extreme episodes, "preaches the university expert. "The cry of the emptied Spain -recalca- is that of a territory that demands attention and management."
To the climatic challenges that already plague us, RescEU promises to provide a response using solidarity and adjusted to the pace of improving its capabilities. Their champions expect to reach 1,750 million euros in the next community budget. "In August Italian and Spanish planes came to Greece and cooperated with us. It is the Europe of solidarity we want. The one that helps when there is a need", Greek Minister of Citizen Protection Michalis Chrisochoidis celebrates. "We face catastrophes that we didn't suffer a few years ago," he adds.
So far this year, 288,147 hectares have burned in the European continent, more than double the average of the last decade. Fire is the first emergency that RescEU helps but not the only one. "The next step is the medical field and also chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear attacks. In the future it must be the common European response against any natural disaster," concludes Stylianides.
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