A team of 70 firefighters from Ukraine is on deployment in southwest France, where wildfires have scorched 42,000 hectares in the worst blaze in decades. RFI met the Ukrainian rescuers helping to put out the last of the flames.
Issued on: 07/08/2026 - RFI
Ukrainian firefighters in Le Porge, southwestern France, on 4 August 2026. The area has been devastated by an extensive wildfire. © Pierre Olivier / RFI
Nine Ukrainian fire engines are in Gironde, the southwest department at the epicentre of France's wildfires.
Concentrated around the village of Le Porge, firefighters from Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi and other parts of western Ukraine head out to comb the still smouldering woodland.
The last remaining hotspots now lie buried under a few centimetres of earth, explains French firefighter Thomas Mimiague.
"We need to work by hand to move away the earth and sand and bring whatever is still burning back to the surface so we can put it out."
Nine Ukrainian fire engines are in Gironde, the southwest department at the epicentre of France's wildfires.
Concentrated around the village of Le Porge, firefighters from Lviv, Ivano-Frankivsk, Chernivtsi and other parts of western Ukraine head out to comb the still smouldering woodland.
The last remaining hotspots now lie buried under a few centimetres of earth, explains French firefighter Thomas Mimiague.
"We need to work by hand to move away the earth and sand and bring whatever is still burning back to the surface so we can put it out."
Ukrainian firefighters prepare for a mission near Le Porge. © Pierre Olivier / RFI
Wartime experience
Residents only began returning on Monday, nearly two weeks after flames tore through the area's forests and prompted mass evacuations. With more than 180 houses destroyed, Le Porge has been worse hit than any other community in the region.
The Ukrainian team arrived last weekend as part of a mission announced at the end of July and are expected to stay at least a week.
"For us, it's important to be by your side because when we needed help, France reached out," Lieutenant-Colonel Khrystyna Pertsovitch told RFI.
Because of the language barrier, the Ukrainian team is operating as an independent unit rather than working directly with French firefighters.
Pertsovitch said her colleagues were used to challenging situations. "Every day, we are subjected to shelling and air strikes. Our firefighters work in very difficult conditions. So we're putting that experience into practice here."
Ukrainian firefighter Khrystyna Pertsovitch, one of 70 emergency workers helping to put out wildfires in southwest France. © Pierre Olivier / RFI
European solidarity
France requested outside reinforcements soon after the fire broke out on 22 July.
Via the European Union's civil protection mechanism, the EU has sent planes and helicopters from countries including Germany, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden and Turkey.
Firefighting teams have also arrived from across Europe, with some already in place when the blaze began as part of EU preparedness plans.
For the mayor of Le Porge, Martial Zaninetti, the Ukrainians' help is especially moving.
"It's wonderful to see this solidarity that transcends borders," he told RFI.
"These people enduring a war have come to help us. We're in another place, another world."
This article has been adapted from the original version in French by Pierre Olivier.
France requested outside reinforcements soon after the fire broke out on 22 July.
Via the European Union's civil protection mechanism, the EU has sent planes and helicopters from countries including Germany, Portugal, Slovakia, Sweden and Turkey.
Firefighting teams have also arrived from across Europe, with some already in place when the blaze began as part of EU preparedness plans.
For the mayor of Le Porge, Martial Zaninetti, the Ukrainians' help is especially moving.
"It's wonderful to see this solidarity that transcends borders," he told RFI.
"These people enduring a war have come to help us. We're in another place, another world."
This article has been adapted from the original version in French by Pierre Olivier.
Deadly helicopter crash in Greece highlights danger to crews fighting wildfires
Water-bombing aircraft returned to the skies over Greece on Monday as firefighters battled several major blazes near Athens, a day after two pilots were killed when their fire-fighting helicopter collided with another aircraft.
Issued on: 03/08/2026 - RFI
Water-bombing aircraft returned to the skies over Greece on Monday as firefighters battled several major blazes near Athens, a day after two pilots were killed when their fire-fighting helicopter collided with another aircraft.
Issued on: 03/08/2026 - RFI
A firefighting helicopter drops water over a wildfire in the area of Porto Germeno, some 70 kilometres northwest of Athens in the region of Viotia, on 2 August 2026. AFP - ANGELOS TZORTZINIS
The crash at the weekend has underlined the dangers facing emergency crews during an increasingly intense wildfire season across southern Europe, where scientists say climate change is creating longer and more frequent periods of extreme fire weather.
Greek authorities said nine water-bombing aircraft and nine helicopters were supporting around 450 firefighters tackling three difficult fronts at Psatha, Kryo Pigadi and Kandyli, between 45 and 70 kilometres north-west of Athens.
The aircraft had previously been grounded by powerful winds, with gusts reaching between 80 and 130km per hour around Porto Germeno, a popular coastal resort that has been evacuated since Friday.
Further evacuations were ordered near Kandyli on Monday morning, while the fire risk in the Attica region surrounding Athens and neighbouring Boeotia remained at level four on a five-point scale.
“The fight against the fires is uneven,” Greece’s Deputy Minister for Civil Protection and Climate Crisis, Kostas Katsafados, told public broadcaster ERT.
EU crisis chief calls for prevention funding as wildfire crisis rages on
Fatal collision
The pilot and co-pilot killed on Sunday were a Danish national and a Greek national. They were flying one of two Bell helicopters that collided while trying to extinguish flames near Psatha.
The British pilot and Greek co-pilot aboard the second helicopter were injured and taken to hospital.
All Bell helicopters involved in the operation have been grounded while authorities investigate the collision. The aircraft were leased from Australian company McDermott Aviation, which said it had supported Greek fire-fighting operations for seven years.
Three firefighters were also killed in Greece last week.
More than 12,000 hectares of forest, scrubland and farmland have burned across the country in the space of a week, according to media reports citing analysis from the European Union’s Copernicus programme.
Several homes have been destroyed around Porto Germeno, where the population rises sharply during the summer as Athenians return to second homes.
Two electricity company employees have been arrested over the fire, which investigators believe may have been started by a spark from a power cable.
Fewer fires, greater intensity
The emergency in Greece reflects a wider trend across southern Europe, where the number of summer days with extreme fire conditions has more than doubled since 1981.
A study by atmospheric scientists covering France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece found that such conditions rose from fewer than 10 days per summer between 1981 and 2010 to as many as 25 days between 2016 and 2025.
Researchers attributed the increase to climate change, as heat, strong winds, low humidity and dry vegetation allow fires to spread more rapidly.
Europe now records fewer wildfires than in the 1980s, thanks partly to better-trained crews and improved aerial resources, but the fires that do break out are often larger and more intense.
Scientists warn that successful fire suppression can also leave more dry vegetation to fuel future blazes, while wet winters encourage plant growth that can quickly dry out during summer heat.
“You cannot stop the propagation of fires when the weather conditions are very extreme,” said study co-author Raul Cordero. “It’s not a matter of resources.”
The crash at the weekend has underlined the dangers facing emergency crews during an increasingly intense wildfire season across southern Europe, where scientists say climate change is creating longer and more frequent periods of extreme fire weather.
Greek authorities said nine water-bombing aircraft and nine helicopters were supporting around 450 firefighters tackling three difficult fronts at Psatha, Kryo Pigadi and Kandyli, between 45 and 70 kilometres north-west of Athens.
The aircraft had previously been grounded by powerful winds, with gusts reaching between 80 and 130km per hour around Porto Germeno, a popular coastal resort that has been evacuated since Friday.
Further evacuations were ordered near Kandyli on Monday morning, while the fire risk in the Attica region surrounding Athens and neighbouring Boeotia remained at level four on a five-point scale.
“The fight against the fires is uneven,” Greece’s Deputy Minister for Civil Protection and Climate Crisis, Kostas Katsafados, told public broadcaster ERT.
EU crisis chief calls for prevention funding as wildfire crisis rages on
Fatal collision
The pilot and co-pilot killed on Sunday were a Danish national and a Greek national. They were flying one of two Bell helicopters that collided while trying to extinguish flames near Psatha.
The British pilot and Greek co-pilot aboard the second helicopter were injured and taken to hospital.
All Bell helicopters involved in the operation have been grounded while authorities investigate the collision. The aircraft were leased from Australian company McDermott Aviation, which said it had supported Greek fire-fighting operations for seven years.
Three firefighters were also killed in Greece last week.
More than 12,000 hectares of forest, scrubland and farmland have burned across the country in the space of a week, according to media reports citing analysis from the European Union’s Copernicus programme.
Several homes have been destroyed around Porto Germeno, where the population rises sharply during the summer as Athenians return to second homes.
Two electricity company employees have been arrested over the fire, which investigators believe may have been started by a spark from a power cable.
Fewer fires, greater intensity
The emergency in Greece reflects a wider trend across southern Europe, where the number of summer days with extreme fire conditions has more than doubled since 1981.
A study by atmospheric scientists covering France, Spain, Portugal, Italy and Greece found that such conditions rose from fewer than 10 days per summer between 1981 and 2010 to as many as 25 days between 2016 and 2025.
Researchers attributed the increase to climate change, as heat, strong winds, low humidity and dry vegetation allow fires to spread more rapidly.
Europe now records fewer wildfires than in the 1980s, thanks partly to better-trained crews and improved aerial resources, but the fires that do break out are often larger and more intense.
Scientists warn that successful fire suppression can also leave more dry vegetation to fuel future blazes, while wet winters encourage plant growth that can quickly dry out during summer heat.
“You cannot stop the propagation of fires when the weather conditions are very extreme,” said study co-author Raul Cordero. “It’s not a matter of resources.”
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