Number of firefighters increases, but vehicles decrease! The ‘tangle’ of competences between central and local government has complicated the fight against fire

Over 95% of Albania’s municipalities have been affected by natural disasters in the last two decades, while fires have destroyed more than about 35% of the national forest area.

Although the number of fire protection personnel increased by 86% over the decade, the ratio of functional vehicles has fallen to 0.87 per 10,000 inhabitants.

Faced with 160 hotspots recorded in just the first weeks of the summer season and the lack of an autonomous fleet of aircraft, local structures remain powerless to guarantee effective intervention in deep mountain areas.

A pronounced tangle of competences between local and central government leaves rural communities and human lives unprotected, putting the country in front of a painful mirror of institutional failure before every fire season. Experts’ suggestions.

The tragedy in the village of Domen in Postribë, where a dwelling was engulfed by flames with a 24-year-old mother and her two children inside, made clear the difficulties that emergency structures face in intervening in deep mountain areas.

The house was about 30 minutes on foot from the road where vehicles could arrive, which made timely intervention by firefighters almost impossible.

When rescue teams arrived in the area, the old house was burnt to ashes along with the mother and two children. The difficult terrain, distance from the motor road, and late notification significantly reduced the chance of a quick rescue operation.

The Postribë incident highlights the gaps in a system that, although it has increased personnel, lacks suitable vehicles for forests and mountain areas, still does not have a consolidated air fleet, and has not established a complete early warning mechanism.

Albania entered this year’s fire season again with more firefighters, but without the technical and organizational capacities required by the increasingly rapid spread of flames under climate change conditions.

In many areas, vehicles can only approach up to the nearest road, while the rest of the intervention is carried out on foot and with limited equipment.

The balance of 2025 showed the scale of the problem. About 16.2 thousand hectares of forests and pastures burned, the largest affected area since 2017, while the direct damage was estimated at around 7.2 billion lekë, or 75 million euros.

The calculation mostly includes the loss of timber material, but not the entire economic, environmental, and social bill of the fires and the costs of reforestation.

According to the former head of Civil Emergencies, Shemsi Prençi, the weakness lies not only in the lack of vehicles, but that the country still does not have a complete operational plan that takes into account the extension of dry periods, higher temperatures, and the increased exposure of forests, homes, and rural communities to fires.

Even fire service leaders at the local level admit that capacities remain far from the needs.

“There is improvement, but we are still far away. One of the most worrying problems is the depreciation of vehicles and the need to purchase new vehicles, especially for interventions in forests and mountain areas,” he stated.

A few days before the tragedy, the Minister of Interior, Besfort Lamallari, presented the plan for facing the fire season. According to him, three firefighting aircraft owned by the Albanian state are expected to be added to the four helicopters of the current fleet.

The government has also announced the financing of 130 new vehicles and the construction of four fire stations in Përrenjas, Mat, Patos, and Mirditë. But experts accused the government of a deep lack of seriousness, since the fire plan should have been presented at the beginning of spring, not in the middle of the fire season.

Similar promises for the purchase of aircraft and the modernization of the firefighting fleet have been made systematically at least since 2017.

Part of them have remained in the phase of plans and procedures, while existing vehicles continue to depreciate and municipalities face pronounced shortages, especially in rural and mountainous territory.

Fires are a growing risk for all of Southern Europe, but Albania is particularly exposed due to its geographical position, socio-economic conditions, and institutional weaknesses.

According to United Nations calculations, the country has one of the highest levels of disaster risk in Europe. Floods, forest fires, landslides, and other natural disasters have affected around 95% of municipalities in the last two decades.

Climate scenarios foresee longer, hotter, and drier periods, increasing the risk for forests, agriculture, tourism, public health, and the energy system.

Assessments show that, without strong preventive measures and investments in adaptation, climate-related economic damages could reach up to 7% of Gross Domestic Product by 2050.

Number of firefighters increases, vehicles decrease.

The number of fire protection employees has increased significantly over the last decade. According to the document “Municipal Performance Measurement System 2024”, personnel increased from 739 employees in 2016 to 1,371 in 2024, or by about 86%.

The official number of employees per 1,500 inhabitants reached 0.86 in 2024, from 0.38 in 2015. This level is close to the European Union average, but the comparison has limitations, as Albanian data includes all station personnel and not just professional firefighters.

The increase in personnel has not been accompanied by the same trend in vehicles. The number of functional vehicles fell from 0.89 per 10,000 inhabitants in 2023 to 0.87 in 2024.

The report links this decline to the decommissioning of old vehicles. Municipalities now have more employees on staff, but fewer possibilities to get close to the fire and fight it professionally.

Mr. Prençi sees the problem as broader than the lack of vehicles, because in many forest areas there are also no roads that would allow vehicles to approach the hotspots.

“We do not have functional roads in forests that would enable fire vehicles to approach near the hotspots. When the fire spreads in mountainous or hilly terrain, our structures often cannot intervene from the ground,” he says.

In these conditions, even a new vehicle may not be sufficient if there are no roads, small vehicles, portable pumps, and teams that can move on foot.

The fire is left to advance until it reaches more accessible areas or goes out on its own. This cannot be considered a defense strategy, adds Mr. Prençi. The problems are not limited only to forests and mountain areas.

Even though Tirana has three fire stations, it turns out to have the lowest number of firefighters and vehicles in relation to the population.

High density, traffic, high-rise buildings, shopping centers, hospitals, and institutions make intervention more difficult. In the capital, delays can be caused not by the lack of forest roads, but by traffic and the difficulty of getting close to buildings.

In small municipalities, the ratio of firefighters per inhabitant may be higher, but the territories are larger and stations may be far from forest areas. This shows that the distribution of vehicles should not be done only according to population.

Terrain, distances, forest area, urban density, and type of risk must be taken into account.

Tangle of competences has complicated the fight against fire.

Legislative changes and the frequent reorganization of institutions have brought a tangle of competences also in the administration of the fight against fire, becoming more a cause for obstruction than for efficiency.

Local fire services draft their plans according to the characteristics of the territory.

“Each fire service drafts its own plan, which is approved by the mayor and then sent to the Ministry of Interior. We draft the quarterly plan for the summer season, as well as the annual plan,” explains a local fire chief who chose to remain anonymous.

This way of organizing is necessary, since an urban municipality has different risks from a municipality with forests, pastures, and mountainous terrain.

But the problem, according to expert Prençi, is that local plans are not always linked into a single system of command and response.

According to current legislation, the National Civil Protection Agency directs and coordinates national and local operational structures in cases of large-scale fires that exceed the capacities of a single municipality.

This includes coordinating the work between the Fire Service (MZSH), the Armed Forces (FA), the State Police, the National Agency of Forests and Protected Areas.

The Ministry of Interior oversees the standards of the Fire Protection and Rescue Service (MZSH) at the national level, even though fire stations operate administratively under the municipalities.

On the other hand, each municipality is obliged to organize, finance, and operationalize the stations and firefighter corps within its administrative territory. The MZSH troops are directly subordinate to the mayor.

The director of the fire service in one of the country’s large municipalities said that there is a tangle of competences that complicates the situation more than it solves it.

For example, the National Civil Protection Agency, which in legislation plays the leading role in the firefighting operation and coordinates the work, on the ground where the fire breaks out actually does nothing, says the local fire chief.

Mr. Prençi, who previously led Civil Emergencies, says that it must be clearly defined who leads the operation, who requests air support, who coordinates forces on the ground, and who communicates with the community. There cannot be several decision-making centers at the same time, he says.

According to him, the National Civil Protection Agency should have the leading role, while municipalities, firefighters, the Armed Forces, the police, and the forest service should act according to a common plan.

The lack of a unified command makes intervention slower and increases the risk that responsibilities are passed from one institution to another.

Municipalities draft the plans, but their ability to implement them depends on the budget, vehicles, equipment, and personnel they have available.

Without firefighting aircraft, Albania remains at risk.

One of the main weaknesses of the system is the lack of a dedicated air fleet for fires. Albania does not have firefighting aircraft and in the most severe cases relies on the helicopters it has available and on help from other countries through the European Civil Protection Mechanism.

“Albania is part of the European Civil Protection Mechanism and can request help from other countries. But it is necessary for the country to have its own capacities,” says the local fire chief.

Mr. Prençi recalls that the establishment of an air fleet has been promised for more than a decade. “For about 13 years there has been talk of setting up an air fleet against fires.

There was also a project supported by the American Command for a regional firefighting base, worth about 50 million euros, that was planned to be built in Guri i Zi at the time when I was leading, but the plan failed due to Albanian bureaucracies and that investment was not realized,” he says.

According to Mr. Prençi, over the years statements have also been repeated about securing two firefighting aircraft, but the fleet has not been established. He assesses that Albania needs a mixed fleet, with aircraft and helicopters, to adapt to the mountainous terrain and the Alpine areas.

The country needs at least two ‘Canadair’ type aircraft and four helicopters that can be supplied with water from rivers and reservoirs, says the expert.

The lack of air capacities becomes more serious when fires spread simultaneously in several Mediterranean countries. In these cases, international aid can be delayed, since aircraft and helicopters are requested by several states at the same time.

Albania has plenty of water sources, but the operational map is missing.

Expert Prençi says that Albania has plenty of water sources that can be used to supply helicopters, but they have not been included in a detailed operational system.

According to him, there are 640 reservoirs across the country, some of which are no longer used for irrigation. Also, we have many rivers, lakes with close distances to the hills and mountains.

“These reservoirs can be identified and used as supply points for helicopters. Rivers can also be utilized, but a detailed plan is needed for this,” he says.

The National Civil Protection Agency, according to Mr. Prençi, should draft a map where coordinates, depth, accessibility, and water supply conditions are defined for each point. This information should be made available in advance to pilots and helicopter units.

“The plan cannot be improvised at the moment the fire breaks out,” says Mr. Prençi. In the absence of such a map, even air vehicles that may be temporarily secured lose time identifying the points where they can be supplied with water.

Maintenance for equipment and early warning is missing.

The problem is not only the lack of investments, but also the management of equipment that was secured earlier. Mr. Prençi recalls that in 2017, the TAP company donated seven firefighting vehicles and more than 600 backpack pumps.

In the same period, according to him, about 40 motorboats were also distributed for emergency operations. But a part of the vehicles and equipment were not maintained and went out of use.

“We receive equipment, but we do not create the system for their maintenance, administration, and use. After a few years, the vehicles get damaged, lost, or remain out of operation and the situation returns to the starting point,” he says.

This concern matches the data of the municipalities, which show a decline in the number of functional vehicles due to age.

The purchase of 130 new vehicles, announced by the government, could improve the fleet, but without a stable maintenance fund and system, the risk is that after a few years, the problem will repeat.

According to Mr. Prençi, one of the most important measures is the creation of an early warning system and real-time reporting. He proposes that municipalities temporarily hire seasonal observers in high-risk areas during the summer months.

“The fire must be identified and reported in the first minutes. If a hotspot is detected when it has already engulfed several hectares, the response becomes much more difficult and costly,” he says.

Seasonal observers can be equipped with communication tools and report immediately for every hotspot.

A small fire can be extinguished with a few people and a few tools. After a few hours, the same hotspot may require national intervention, helicopters, and help from abroad.

Mr. Prençi demands that prevention not be limited to vehicles and equipment, but citizens, especially in rural areas, must know how to act when the fire breaks out near their land, garden, or home.

“The Agency should use short animated films and simple informational materials to explain to citizens how they should react,” he says. People must know how to notify, how to leave, and what not to do, so as not to endanger their lives and not to hinder intervention.

Education on disaster response should also be included in school curricula. A part of the fires are caused by carelessness, burning of agricultural waste, or cleaning land with fire. For this reason, community education is also a preventive measure, not just informative.

The ‘deception’ with wages.

The 2026 budget added 227.7 million lekë as a reward for the fire protection and rescue service. According to the local fire chief, it is not about a new reward, but about payments that employees were entitled to under the Labor Code.

“Firefighters were not paid for night hours, for holidays, and for official days off. These were treated as ordinary working days,” he says.

But the additional payments have created another problem. Firefighters who work in 24-hour shifts may receive higher incomes than inspectors, chiefs, and station heads, who do not benefit from night hour supplements.

“The station head, inspectors, and chiefs may receive less than the employees under their supervision,” says the representative.

This reduces interest in promotion and weakens the career system within the service. Also, the announced reward for firefighters depends on the budgets and decision-making of the municipalities, which creates different treatment from one local unit to another.

The invisible bill of damages.

Official data show that from the beginning of the summer season on June 22 until the beginning of July 2026, a total of 160 fire hotspots have been recorded across the entire territory of Albania. 127 cases were hotspots in areas with vegetation, bushes, brambles, forests, and urban waste, and 33 cases were fires of an urban character.

The balance of 2025 shows that in the whole country there were 346 fire cases only in the forest and pasture fund.

The flames swept more than 33.5 thousand hectares, while the burned area reached about 16.2 thousand hectares. The Ministry of Environment reported that 2025 was the second most problematic after 2017, both for the number of fires and the affected area.

The monetary damage was calculated at 7.186 billion lekë, or an average of about 444 thousand lekë per each burned hectare. Around 128.6 thousand cubic meters of timber material were burned by the fires, and only 25.6 thousand cubic meters are still assessed as usable.

But this calculation mainly includes the loss of timber. Outside the bill remain the costs of cleaning the surfaces, reforestation, maintenance of seedlings, and soil protection from erosion.

Not included are the losses in pastures, livestock, medicinal and aromatic plants, nor the expenses for vehicles, helicopters, fuel, and personnel.

When intervention is delayed due to the lack of roads, vehicles, and early detection, a small hotspot turns into a damage with a much higher cost. Official data of recent years show that in the last two decades 35% of the country’s forest area has been burned.

The Vlora region was the most affected area in 2025. The burned area exceeded 10 thousand hectares, while the economic damage was estimated at around 3.89 billion lekë. Vlora alone concentrated more than half of the damage reported at the national level.

Following it, among the most affected regions are Elbasan, Gjirokastra, Lezha, and Berat. The southern regions have higher exposure due to temperatures, drought, broken terrain, and large forest and pasture areas.

These areas are precisely those where the lack of forest roads and vehicles that can move on the terrain makes intervention from the ground more difficult.

Mr. Prençi demands that municipalities with large forest territories be equipped with small vehicles for hilly and mountainous terrain, as well as with water pumps that are carried on the back.

“Firefighters must have backpack pumps with a capacity of about 35 kilograms, which enable them to approach the hotspot even when the vehicle cannot enter,” he says.

According to him, the use of branches, shovels, and improvised tools for extinguishing fires shows that the system continues to work with primitive methods. “We cannot claim that we are protecting forests and homes when people are sent to the ground without the minimum equipment,” says Mr. Prençi./Monitor