The European Commission said Europe’s firefighting capacity is struggling to keep pace with increasingly intense wildfires in Spain and France, as blazes continue to overwhelm local resources.
"These fires are out of capacity," a Commission official told reporters on Monday, referring to the devastating blazes that have already consumed more than 80,000 hectares in Spain and over 42,000 hectares in France. Both fires remain uncontrolled and have forced more than 320,000 people to leave their homes.
As wildfires continue to rage across Spain and France despite one of the EU's largest-ever emergency responses, Commission officials conceded that the EU is facing staggering blazes that are spreading faster than firefighting efforts can contain. The crisis is also highlighting the growing strain on the EU’s civil protection system and its ability to respond to large-scale disasters.
European Commission for Humanitarian Aid and Crisis Management, Hadja Lahbib, recently acknowledged in the French newspaper Le Monde that the bloc's civil protection mechanism is "under pressure" but insisted that "it is working".
Nevertheless, Brussels is moving to expand its firefighting fleet for future emergencies and enhance cross-border disaster response capabilities. EU officials acknowledged on Monday that climate change is lengthening wildfire seasons and driving increasingly severe fires that differ significantly from those witnessed just a few years ago.
