Cyprus sends firefighting planes to North Macedonia

Cyprus has dispatched two firefighting planes to North Macedonia to aid in battling forest fires in the Chashka and Sveti Nikole regions, the Department of Forests announced Wednesday.

The deployment, coordinated through the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism, follows a request from the EU's Emergency Response Coordination Centre. On the directive of Forestry Department Director Dr. Savvas Iezekiel and after consultations with Agriculture Minister Dr. Maria Panayiotou and Foreign Affairs Minister Dr. Constantinos Kombos, Cyprus agreed to send two Air Tractor aircraft, along with four crew members and five ground support staff.

The planes took off from Paphos Airport at 10:15 a.m. local time on Wednesday, August 7, 2024, with a refueling stop at Rhodes Airport before continuing to Skopje International Airport. The mission is expected to reach North Macedonia by 5 p.m. local time, where the team will be briefed and begin operations the following morning. The planes will remain in North Macedonia for five days.

Equipped for aerial firefighting, the aircraft include refueling and foam application equipment and have communication systems for coordinating with Cyprus’s Aircraft Unit in Larnaca and transmitting information and imagery.

Since mid-June 2024, these planes have been part of the rescEU mechanism, which allows EU Member States to support each other in disaster response. This mission marks their first deployment under this framework.

Cyprus has a history of assisting neighboring countries through bilateral agreements and the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.