In 2019, the EU strengthened all components of its risk management system by upgrading the Civil Preparedness Mechanism (UCPM). The result was the creation of RescEU with the aim of better protecting Europeans from crises and disasters, and ensuring better risk management.
RescEU is a European contingency reserve with capacities that in the first phase consisted of a fleet of forest fire planes and helicopters, but which have since expanded to areas other than forest fires. Today, RescEU is used for medical emergencies and chemical, biological, radioactive and nuclear (CBRN) incidents.
The reserve is only used as a last resort, when national capacities have been exhausted and capacities registered in the European Civil Protection Pool are not available.
The countries that are members of the European Civil Preparedness Mechanism identify which national capacities they have that can be added to RescEU. DSB cooperates with our colleagues in the Nordic countries so that Nordic capacities can complement each other in areas such as forest fires, medical evacuation, CBRN and chemical accidents at sea.