(BRUSSELS) - Brussels is studying how to improve its response to emergencies, such as the forest fires in Greece, which has already received the bloc's biggest civil aid to a member state, a spokeswoman said Monday.

EU nations have sent fire-fighting planes to Greece, with specialised helicopters on the way, in "the biggest effort ever by EU member states to help another member state," European Commission spokeswoman Barbara Helfferich told reporters in Brussels.

Seven fire-fighting Canadair planes supplied by France, Italy and Spain are currently helping combat the devastating fires that broke out on Friday and which have killed more than 60 people.

Another Canadair from Portugal was due to arrive Monday while nine specialised helicopters are also being dispatched, a Commission spokeswoman said. France has also dispatched fire-fighting brigades.

It was the biggest joint offer of assistance since the bloc's Community Mechanism for Civil Protection was set up in 1991, with at least nine EU countries offering aid within 48 hours.

"It is a tragedy that so many lives were lost," said EU Environment Commissioner Stavros Dimas.

"It is also an ecological disaster of an unprecedented dimension with tens of thousands of hectares (acres) of habitats destroyed. And it will mean tremendous economic hardship for those who have lost their businesses and houses to the fires," he added in a statement.

However the Commission, the EU's executive arm, believes the response can improve and will study ways to strengthen its response to civil emergencies, ranging from forest fires to floods and earthquakes.

All countries that sent aircraft have had to fight their own fires but none has been as badly hit as Greece this summer.

"In July and August we have seen that the existing capacity may not have been enough to react as quickly" as we would have liked, the spokeswoman said.

The idea, to be discussed in the autumn, is to set up "readily-deployable, pre-defined specialised clusters of personnel and equipment," said Helfferich.

She said it was too early to consider reconstruction aid for Greece.

However "as soon as the fires are extinguished, major reconstruction will be needed," she said.

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