Defence Minister Mario Banozic said on Tuesday Croatia is ready for the firefighting season, in which up to five Canadair aircraft, six air tractors, one helicopter, a Platus plane and approximately 200 soldiers will be available for fighting fires.

A total of €16.3 million have been secured for this year’s fire season, said Banozic, who attended the opening of the First SK@UT Conference, organised by the Security and Intelligence Agency.

The firefighting season is planned in agreement with the Croatian Firefighting Association, and orders will be issued in the firefighting command center.

Banozic said that Croatia will continue to be ready to help other countries in battling fires as part of the “rescue mechanism”. In previous years, assistance was provided to neighboring countries – Slovenia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, but also to other countries that requested assistance, such as Greece and Turkey.

Banozic said that at the Aircraft Maintenance and Repair Centre (ZTC), which maintains the Canadair planes, the Ministry took measures to make everything work, considering last year’s problem when most of the Canadairs were not ready for the season.

“We have taken certain actions regarding the improvement of communication in the system in order to improve certain things, reduce some challenges, and this can be seen in the number of firefighting planes that will be ready for the season,” said Banozic.