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Efforts to manage fire situations/ Cara: Difficult terrain creates impossibility

2025-07-23 17:33:00, Aktualitet CNA

Following the efforts to manage fire situations, another meeting was held with representatives of local and central institutions in the city of Korça, where the General Director of the Fire Service, Arben Cara, also participated.

According to him, the response of municipalities is not due to a lack of vehicles or equipment, but due to the difficult terrain, which often makes it impossible for firefighting vehicles to penetrate the fires. He emphasized that in cases where access by vehicles has been possible, the intervention has been efficient and the fires have been managed in a short time.

"Today's meeting follows the meeting that took place with the steering committee led by the Deputy Prime Minister of Albania and all ministers, prefects and mayors of the most at-risk areas. These meetings will take place in all municipalities where maximum commitment from all structures will continue to be required to have increased attention, taking into account the higher temperatures that we have in the coming days," said Cara.

The focus of the discussions was also the opening of mountain roads, a legal obligation of municipalities according to Law No. 152/2015. Cara noted that some municipalities have taken concrete steps, investing in improving infrastructure and equipping the firefighting fleet, but in some cases budgets remain insufficient, requiring intervention from central institutions.

Regarding air intervention in inaccessible mountainous areas, he explained that the response is always based on the assessment of the situation by local and central structures. When air intervention is required, the planes and helicopters of the Ministry of Defense are made available, while the European civil protection mechanism is also activated, in cases where the situation exceeds local capacities.

"It is not the lack of tools or equipment, but the rugged terrain that makes it impossible for vehicles to access the fire sites. We always talk about roads, about firefighting vehicles. In every case where firefighting vehicles have been accessed, the fires have been managed in a very short time," said Cara.

Cara also responded to the issue of airstrikes in the southeast area.

"There is no delayed intervention from the air, but there is intervention according to the assessment made of the situation. In each case, the situations are assessed based on the risk that the fire has at that moment and that it brings to that territory. In each case, the intervention with air vehicles has been by the national civil protection agency according to the case and the assessment made by the local and central levels. The prefect of the district in each case that has made the request, the planes and helicopters of the Ministry of Defense have come to help. The European mechanism has also been put into motion where it has been deemed reasonable that the situation is critical and that it has not been possible to manage it by the Albanian state and in this case everything is normal for us to work with help from the mechanism since we do the same thing, we provide this help if necessary in neighboring countries", said Cara.

During meetings in all high-risk municipalities, maximum commitment from structures is being sought to be prepared for high temperatures and the increased risk of fires in the coming days./CNA