Head of the State Fire Service: Polish firefighters reached their destination safely in Greece

“The entire GFFFV module is already in Vilia. They have reached their destination safely,” Brigadier General Andrzej Bartkowiak wrote on Twitter on Friday evening. The GFFFV module are units specialized in extinguishing forest fires with the use of vehicles.

Earlier, the head of the State Fire Service informed that the GFFFV command had arrived in Vilia and was greeted by a liaison officer.

In the next entry, Brigadier General Andrzej Bartkowiak informed that “After the briefing with the command, the GFFFV module is going to spend the night, after which they will undertake the rescue challenge.”

Polish firefighters rushed to help Greece

Polish firefighters set off to Greece on Wednesday from Krakow. 149 firefighters and 49 vehicles from the Małopolskie and Wielkopolskie voivodeships take part in the mission. They have to travel almost 2,000 km. km. Operations in Greece are likely to last around two weeks, depending on how the situation develops.

In connection with forest fires in Greece, a request for rescue assistance was received in the form of the so-called GFFFV modules. Commander-in-Chief of the SFS, Brigadier General Andrzej Bartkowiak in consultation with the Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki and the Minister of the Interior and Administration Mariusz Kaminski decided to notify the readiness of Polish firefighters to help. On Tuesday evening, the Greek government accepted the offer of assistance.

The forest fires in Greece, which started on Monday, were slowly extinguished on Thursday; managed to control a large fire west of Athens, which destroyed many houses and forced the evacuation of the surrounding population. However, another heatwave is approaching the country, threatening more wildfires, authorities and meteorologists have warned.