Kosovo with hundreds of firefighters short

“We had ten Camp fires. Camp fires enter the hallul fires, dry grass... It's a high number, but, fortunately, there's been several rain rains at night”, says Male Gashi, the task of commander of the professional Brigade of Fire and Rescue, which covers these municipalities.

This brigade, according to him, operates with only 80 firefighters with insufficient population needs in these regions.

Gashi says the brigade needs at least 65 more firefighters.

In recent days, Kosovo He's faced temperatures over 37 degrees Fahrenheit.

As temperatures rise, so do the risk of lighting and spreading fires.

Almost every year, there are fires in mountain areas but also burning field after harvest.

For this reason, the Agency for Emergency Management has called on citizens to be careful and avoid all possible fire triggers.

In a call issued on July 18th, this agency has also asked citizens to present it in emergency numbers if they observe any fires.

The free emergency numbers are:

Emergency Operations Center: 112

Firefighters: 193

Police: 192

Emergency Medical Service: 194

Insufficient Firework Capacity

Muharrem Beka, chairman of the Kosovo Firework Union, says management and preventing the spread of fires are of concern to him because of the insufficient number of firefighters.

At the country level, according to him, there are about 800 firefighters with capacity to deal with any natural disaster or large fires.

He considers that according to the total population, about 1.8 million, Kosovo needs another 400 firefighters.

Under the regulation for the organisational structure of professional fire and rescue units, at least one fireman is needed for every 1,500 residents.

According to this estimate, Kosovo should have about 1,200 firefighters.

The Agency for Emergency Management in the country did not respond to REL's interest in the number of firefighters, however, how much is enough.

Tahir Ahmeti, executive director at the Security Policy Research Centre, says that firefighters are the first responders in case of any natural disaster and, for this reason, increasing their number would have to be a priority for competent institutions.

When we are in natural disasters or fires, we must always be prepared because the state or institutions cannot prevent natural disasters, but must be prepared”, Ahmeti tells Radio Free Europe.

Firefighters in Kosovo work without health insurance, while their basic salary is 520 euros.

Due to high temperatures, in recent weeks fires in the Mediterranean have caused the deaths of over 40 people.

In their fierce war, Greece has especially been, where tens of thousands of people have been forced to move out of their homes.

For the extreme heat wave in southern Europe, in some countries over 44 degrees Celsius are particularly blamed for climate change.