Press Release: European Commission mobilises rapid civil protection assistance to combat forest fires in Portugal

On 20 August 2005 Portugal requested European civil protection assistance to help combat the forest fires raging in more than 50 places across the country. The request triggered a rapid response from the Monitoring and Information Centre (MIC) of the European Commission. The MIC immediately alerted the civil protection authorities of the 30 countries participating in the Community Civil Protection Mechanism. Within less than 24 hours, Portugal received additional fire-fighting airplanes and helicopters from several European Member States, significantly increasing its domestic response capacities.

European Commission: Environment: Policies: Civil Protection: Introduction: Community mechanism http://ec.europa.eu/comm/environment/civil/prote/mechanism.htm

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