In a move to strengthen Europe's fire-response capabilities, Slovenia has launched a National Large Wildfire Centre in Sežana. The facility aims to train 1,000 firefighters within its first year and extend support to neighbouring nations.

The centre will not only help Slovenia but also allow it to help neighbouring countries, European Budget Commissioner for Budget Piotr Serafin said as he visited on 24 March.

The wildfire centre opened nearly three years after devastating wildfires broke out in July 2022 in the Kras region, just northwest of Sežana. Thousands of firefighters worked to put out the worst wildfire in Slovenia on record, which scorched 3,700 hectares of mostly forest over 17 days.

Since then Slovenia has worked to build up its firefighting capabilities, including by purchasing multiple small firefighting aircraft. The centre is the next stage in the efforts.

The National Large Wildfire Centre was funded with €3 million from the EU's Recovery and Resilience Plan. The special training programme, tailored to rescue and protection efforts, will begin on 31 March.

"Our goal is for Sežana to become the central coordination centre for fires in western Slovenia. That is already possible now with all the new assets we have," said Leon Behin, the chief of the National Administration for Civil Protection and Disaster Relief.