EU Civil Protection Mechanism Mobilizes Aircraft and Firefighters for Belgium and Spain Wildfires

The EU Civil Protection Mechanism (UCPM) mobilized cross-border assistance as wildfires spread across the continent. Two rescEU firefighting planes were dispatched from Sweden to Belgium, backed by helicopters from the Netherlands, Norway and Germany, to fight the largest blaze in Belgium's recorded history in the Hautes Fagnes region (over 3,000 hectares burned). In Spain, 104 ground firefighters and 36 vehicles from France reinforced Spanish crews battling fires in the Aragón region (nearly 16,000 hectares burned). The Copernicus Emergency Management Service activated satellite mapping across nine countries — Belgium, Spain, Greece, Germany, Montenegro, Serbia, Albania, France and Italy — to help authorities assess damage and coordinate the response. By end of July, Europe's 2026 burned area was already 2.5 times the seasonal average.