In response to a request from France, submitted through the RescEU Mechanism, the Republic of Cyprus is dispatching two aerial firefighting aircraft—Air Tractors—to assist the French authorities in their efforts to combat the major wildfires raging in the country, according to a statement from the Ministry of the Interior.

The two aircraft being dispatched are leased to the Republic of Cyprus by the European Union through the RescEU Mechanism and are stationed in Cyprus.

RescEU is the European civil protection reserve mechanism, which is activated to support member states in responding to major disasters.

France Engulfed in Fire

In France, in the Eastern Pyrenees department in the south, approximately 13,500 stremmata have already been burned by the fire, which broke out on Saturday night near a remote mountainous area close to Mount Canigou.

Conditions are difficult due to the strengthening northwesterly wind and the intense heat.

“We started seeing the smoke around 10:30 p.m. local time, and then it kept spreading more and more. Someone from the local government knocked on our door around 1:00 a.m. to tell us to leave. “There were fire trucks everywhere, and the smell of burning overwhelmed us,” described a woman who was forced to flee her home in Il-Sir-Tet.

Together with her mother, her son, and their three dogs, she took shelter at a sports field, where those evacuated from their homes during the night were taken.

About 700 firefighters have been battling the blaze since this morning, with the assistance of aircraft and helicopters.

The fire broke out just as the department of the Eastern Pyrenees, along with six others in France, was placed under an orange fire alert, with temperatures expected to reach 40 degrees Celsius in some areas, one week after a historic heat wave.

Other wildfires broke out in southern France earlier this week, prompting Interior Minister Laurent Nunez, expressing his concern, as he put it, about a fire season that began “a month early.”

Most of the fires are caused by human activity, according to firefighters, though their spread has been fueled by high temperatures and drought.