RescEU
In March 2019, the EU reinforced and strengthened all components of its disaster risk management by upgrading the Union Civil Protection Mechanism.
The result was RescEU and the objective is to improve both the protection of citizens from disasters and the management of emerging risks.
RescEU entails a new European reserve of capacities (the ‘RescEU reserve’) which initially includes a fleet of firefighting planes and helicopters. However, RescEU’s scope goes beyond forest fires and it is expected to include response to other threats such as medical emergencies and chemical, biological, radiological, and nuclear incidents (CBRN).
The reserve will only be used as a last resort, when national means are exhausted and capacities registered in the European Civil Protection Pool are not available.
Member countries are now in the process of identifying possible resources to be included in RescEU. DSB collaborates with its sister organizations in the Nordic countries, to ensure that Nordic capacities will supplement each other. Of particular relevance are resources for (aerial) forest firefighting, medical evacuation, CBRN resources, and management of offshore chemical accidents.
Links
rescEU stockpiling of medical equipment. Romania and Germany are the first Member State to host this rescEU reserve
Activation of rescEU assets to tackle forest fires in Greece