The plan took off from Skavsta on Wednesday and Thursday, respectively, and will be used in the extensive forest fires currently raging in Bulgaria and North Macedonia.
It's extremely hot in southern Europe, and these countries have assessed that their national resources simply aren't enough. The firefighting work is too tough right now, says Jenny Wärja, acting unit manager at the Swedish Civil Contingencies Agency (MSB).
Among other things, there are intense fires in mountainous areas near the Greek-Bulgarian border. The two so-called scooping planes with personnel sent to the operation in Bulgaria began their work on Thursday morning.
They're making a big difference, together with others, of course. The planes have a large extinguishing capacity and can pick up a lot of water from watercourses and then water-bomb, says Jenny Wärja.
The planes are part of an EU cooperation and are intended for international use. This is the fifth and sixth time, respectively, that the planes have been sent abroad since 2019, according to the agency.
Sweden has previously received firefighting assistance from other EU countries, and MSB assesses that the situation is currently good enough to send the planes to southern Europe.
Our assessment is that the preparedness is good, we regularly monitor the fire risk situation in Sweden during the summer season.
Right now, it's a relatively calm situation, and we have four helicopters with good extinguishing capabilities on standby.
The operations with the four firefighting planes are expected to continue until Monday.
