The FIREGRUS project, submitted by the Regional Government to the European Commission's Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations, has been selected within the line of work entitled "Buffer capacities for adressing temporary shorcomings in extraordinary disasters". Through the mentioned project, the Regional Government makes available to the European Commission two aircraft of the Forest Fire Extinguishment Service, main manager of the “Plan INFOCAM”. These two aircraft, with capacity to load up to 3,100 liters of water and based in Castilla-La Mancha, may participate in the extinction of forest fires in other European Union countries, upon request to the Regional Government, to act outside the territory of Castilla-La Mancha and even outside the national territory.

The FIREGRUS project will be provided with more than € 290,000 (40% of the project) of funding by the European Commission through its Directorate-General for Civil Protection and Humanitarian Aid Operations (DGECHO), plus own funds of the Community Board of Castilla-La Mancha (60% of the project). Coordinated by it, and with the Public Enterprise of Environmental Management of Castilla-La Mancha (known in Spanish as GEACAM) as a partner-collaborator, the FIREGRUS project puts at the disposal of the European Commission for missions to extinguish forest fires two aircraft of the Fire Extinguishing Service Forestry of Castilla-La Mancha. Likewise, in order to ensure perfect coordination between the aircraft and the emergency coordination centers of the requesting assistance country, the deployment of the aid is integrated with pilots, aeronautical maintenance technicians and liaison officers. These officers will be Fire Engineers of the Forest Fire Extinguishing Service, accredited by the DGECHO and knowledgeable about the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union, as well as in air operations in forest fire suppression missions and in their coordination.

With FIREGRUS, the Forest Fire Extinguishing Service of Castilla-La Mancha becomes the first device in this type of emergencies at national level that registers resources in the so-called "voluntary pool", which involves an international collaboration with the European Union In emergencies by forest fires.

The territory of action is marked by the 28 Member States of the European Union plus another 6 participating countries: Iceland, Montenegro, Norway, Serbia, Macedonia and Turkey.

The deployment of the aid will be carried out at the request of the European Union Emergency Response Coordination Center (ERCC), the Regional Operational Center (COR) of the Forest Firefighting Service of Castilla-La Mancha, located in Toledo, through the National Emergency Center for Civil Protection (CENEM), under the Ministry of Interior. These aircraft will be available for deployment at the request of the ERCC between June 15 and September 15, 2017 through Operational Protocols for Dispatch and Deployment of the resources contemplated by the FIREGRUS project.

Under FIREGRUS, the Regional Government will collaborate with Civil Protection, at international level, not only in fire extinguishing missions, but also in the training of technical personnel of the participating countries in the coordination of aerial operations of forest fires.

The airplanes on which the entire project will run will be two of the five contracted by the Regional Government and as means associated with the Plan INFOCAM, to the aviation company Martínez Ridao Aviación, S.L. They are two Air Tractor AT-802F aircrairaft, with capacity to load up to 3,100 liters of water and to carry flights of up to 1,200 km without needing to refuel. These aircraft are equipped with a turbine of 1,350 SHP of power, with cruising speed of 355 km/h. The communication between the personnel deployed abroad and Regional Operational Center for the coordination of forest fires will be maintained with the use of satellite telephony.