The situation of wildfires, Minister Peleshi thanks EU and the member states for their support

Published: Tuesday, 17 August 2021 13:25

The Kingdom of the Netherlands and the Czech Republic's support via the Civil Protection Mechanism of the EU, has proven to be essential in coping with the wildfire situation in our country during August.

In an event organized at the military part of the International Airport "Mother Teresa", the Minister of Defense Niko Peleshi started his speech by expressing his condolences for the loss of two lives, which he considered irreplaceable.
In the presence of the Head of the Political Section of the EU Delegation in Tirana, Alexis Hupin, the Ambassador of the Czech Republic, Jaroslav Ludva, the Deputy Ambassador of Netherlands, Rogier Nouwen, Minister Peleshi thanked the governments of the respective countries for their assistance and provided an overview of the general situation during this period.

“Even though we are in the midst of work, I consider it very important to share our gratitude with the public for those partners who have been with us within a very short time since we were addressed to the European Civil Protection Mechanism. Thus, I want to thank the EU and its mechanisms, the EU Delegation Office in Tirana for an immediate response to help Albania to cope with this unusual fires situation that has engulfed our region. We are still in the middle of fire emergencies, especially in the northern part of Albania. We could say that we already have some important achievements, and successes to have rescued parks, villages and above all people's lives. We have successfully saved the National Park of Llogara, one of the most important lungs in our country, but today we are still among many fires in the north, mainly in Kukes, Lezha, and Shkodra region. So in the municipality of Puka, Mirdita, and Kukes we still have some wildfire hearths. "We estimate around 3,000 hectares of damage in our forestland so far. It is a considerable number, but the good news is that 2,300 hectares are bushes, while the rest are pine trees and other vegetation"- said Mr. Peleshi.



The Deputy Ambassador of the Kingdom of Netherlands in our country appreciated the cooperation with Albanian authorities and reported that two Dutch helicopters "Chinook" and their crews will continue their assistance of extinguishing the fire by the end of August.
The Dutch and Czech helicopters joined the troops of the Armed Forces and other local authorities to deal with the fire situation, since August 6.