Polish firefighters preparing to leave for Greece
Poland will send firefighters to Greece to help it cope with wildfires burning on multiple fronts around Athens, with more extreme heat on the way, the Polish interior minister has announced on social media.
"Greece has been hit by massive fires. Acting in agreement with Prime Minister Mateusz Morawiecki, I have asked the commander of the State Fire Service to prepare our firefighters for departure to Greece," Mariusz Kamiński wrote on Twitter on Tuesday.
The minister added that he hoped they would be able to help Greece "just like two years ago when they had helped put out fires in southern Europe."
"The Greek government has accepted the offer of assistance made by Polish firefighters from the GFFFV (Ground Forest Fire Fighting using Vehicles) module," Andrzej Bartkowiak, the State Fire Service commander, wrote on Twitter later on Tuesday.
"A total of 149 firefighters and 49 vehicles will meet in Kraków, southern Poland, on Wednesday and then leave for Greece," Bartkowiak added.
Wildfires continued to burn out of control on Tuesday to the north and west of Athens, including a blaze near the resort town of Loutraki, where more homes were damaged and evacuations were expanded.
