Southeastern Europe has learned few lessons from the last few years of forest fires
Even storms spread the conflagration in the completely dried out Mediterranean countries. During the weekend, rainless thunderstorms in Croatia triggered new forest fires near the Dalmatian municipality of Dugopolje. “There are many more fires than last year,” reports the chief of Croatia’s fire department, Slavko Tucakovic.
The forest fires are still raging in this year’s hot summer, especially in the western Mediterranean countries. However, the persistent heat wave has also completely dried out the soil and forests in south-eastern Europe, causing springs and watercourses to dry up: In Istria, Croatia’s most popular tourist region, water consumption has been strictly regulated since Monday.
From Slovenia to Bulgaria, the firefighters are on alert because of the increased risk of fire: 119 forest fires were reported in Greece alone over the weekend. However, south-eastern Europe is once again surprisingly poorly prepared for the foreseeable spread of the summer inferno. “Most of the Balkan countries have learned nothing from the forest fires of the last year,” states the Balkan agency “BIRN” in an analysis of the equipment of the region’s fire brigade: “They are ill-prepared to fight the fires.”
Inaccessible mountain areas and remote islands: Forest fires on the Balkan Peninsula can only be fought effectively from the air. But it’s not just the lack of funds to buy or lease firefighting planes and helicopters, but also their poor maintenance that creates problems. In the summer, people like to complain about the lack of fire brigade equipment. In autumn, the problem is usually quickly forgotten.
Greece is prepared
Only Greece has heavily upgraded its firefighting aircraft fleet after the catastrophic fires of 2021. There are now 93 fire-fighting aircraft on the Aegean instead of the previous 78. At the same time, Athens has increased the number of helicopters that are also suitable for fire-fighting operations through new leasing contracts.
On the other hand, things are looking bleak in most other countries. Of the Croatian fire brigade’s twelve firefighting aircraft, only seven are currently operational because the state-owned company ZTC, which was commissioned with the overhaul, has fallen behind schedule: According to a report by “Jutarnji List”, Croatia’s fire brigade wants to have them overhauled in Italy in the future.
In Montenegro, too, all three fire-fighting aircraft are currently out of action due to repair work. After all, the coastal state still has four firefighting helicopters. The fire-fighting aircraft in North Macedonia are also currently unable to fly: Skopje has had to request flying fire-fighting assistance from neighboring countries several times this summer. According to BIRN, the situation regarding the equipment of the fire brigades in Bulgaria, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Kosovo is similarly bleak: the newcomer to the state does not have any fire-fighting aircraft or helicopters.
In addition to their often poor equipment, the firefighters in the Balkans also struggle with the lousy pay. Even in EU member Croatia, according to “index.hr”, the fire brigade only pays the hired seasonal workers 8000 kuna (1064 euros) gross per month for the life-threatening job – and has problems finding enough emergency workers in the empty labor market. Migration is also a reason that more properties are becoming overgrown – which in turn encourages the spread of forest fires.
