May 13, 2008. /Lesprom.com/. The European Commission (EC) and five member states have undertaken a large-scale simulation exercise to help Europe prepare for this year's fire season, The Timber Industry Magazine informed. Last year, over 250,000 hectares of forest was destroyed by wildfires in Greece alone, while a number of lives were lost across Europe. In order to mitigate such events repeating themselves, the EC's disaster monitoring and information centre and representatives from Italy, France, Spain, Greece and Portugal carried out practical exercises on simulated fires to work on their disaster response. "When they work together, European countries can deliver a more effective response than they can by working alone," said Stavros Dimas, European commissioner for environment and civil protection.