Brussels: The European Commission has assembled its largest ever wildfire response for the 2026 summer, pre-positioning 777 firefighters from 14 countries across the Mediterranean before the peak of the fire season.

The teams take up posts in Cyprus, Greece, Italy, France, Spain and Portugal, the countries that regularly bear the brunt of Europe’s summer blazes. Officials describe the deployment as the strongest turnout since the pre-positioning programme began in 2022, and they built this year’s wildfire response around early placement rather than late reaction.

Behind the ground crews sits a growing aerial fleet. The Commission has readied 22 firefighting aeroplanes and 5 helicopters under rescEU, the EU-financed reserve that steps in when a stricken country exhausts its own capacity and the help offered by its neighbours. rescEU also holds medical evacuation aircraft, field hospitals and stockpiles of emergency supplies.

Coordination runs through the Emergency Response Coordination Centre, which tracks risk around the clock and marshals assets across borders. A rotating team of 25 experts feeds meteorological and scientific analysis into the centre, helping planners move crews and aircraft toward the regions where fire danger climbs fastest.

The Commission is also pouring money into permanent infrastructure. A new regional firefighting station in Cyprus will host up to six pre-positioned aircraft and run training and joint exercises for civil protection teams from across the bloc, turning a seasonal scramble into a standing capability.

Climate pressure drives the urgency. Hotter, drier summers have lengthened the fire season and pushed blazes into countries that once escaped them, so the Commission frames this wildfire response as protection for lives, homes and forests rather than a routine precaution. It set out the full package in its announcement of the 2026 deployment.

Prevention now sits alongside firefighting. The Commission has pressed member states to clear undergrowth, map escape routes and warn residents earlier, arguing that a well-drilled wildfire response starts long before the first flames appear. It has also expanded satellite monitoring so that analysts can spot ignitions within minutes and steer aircraft toward them before a small fire becomes a wall of flame.

Solidarity anchors the whole effort. Firefighters from inland and northern states travel south to defend coastlines they may never have seen, and the bloc covers the bill through its civil protection budget. Commission officials argue that pooling crews and planes at European level saves both money and lives, because no single government can staff a continent-wide fire front alone.