Citizens should not and should not participate directly in firefighting without prior training. But their role must be greater and they can help and facilitate the work of firefighters and members of voluntary societies in many ways.
This is what the interlocutors of "Vijesti" said, talking about the possibilities for citizens to become more active in emergency situations, such as fires.
"There are many ways in which citizens can help the protection and rescue services to fight fires more efficiently and safely, and not all of them involve being a volunteer firefighter or fighting fires directly. First and foremost, in order to fight a fire, someone must know how to manage in these emergency situations and, accordingly, undergo certain training. So, if citizens have not undergone certain training, they endanger not only their lives, but also the lives of members of the protection and rescue service," said the civil activist and tourist worker. Aleksadar Dragićević.
What citizens can do, as he said, is to subordinate themselves and their resources and to volunteer in other ways.
"About fifteen days ago, we managed to very quickly and efficiently form a volunteer firefighting drone unit, with some 35 pilots throughout Montenegro, and made ourselves available to the Directorate for Protection and Rescue of the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP)... We opened a great channel of communication and in the previous 15 days it has been shown that it can work. So, for example, it is one of the ways that citizens, who have drones and know how to fly, can make themselves available to the protection services, i.e. their chiefs, and follow their instructions, in order to monitor fire lines and the spread of fires, and at the same time The Ministry of Internal Affairs, their Directorate, had live information from the ground and from the air and, accordingly, directed the planes and helicopters to fire," he said.
Dragićević adds that citizens can also help by not acting alone, but by joining groups of ten or 15 people within the local communities, and by going to the protection services in an organized manner and asking what and how they can help.
"Sometimes it's transporting equipment, sometimes it's transporting firefighters, citizens can also offer their accommodation facilities for volunteers or firefighters who came from other municipalities, so that these people can rest for a few hours, take a shower, eat and continue to are struggling, since at this moment the firefighters in the bay, for example, had four sleepless nights, as well as the volunteers who came to help them," says Dragićević.
Yesterday, the media published photos of Nikšić firefighters, who, after spending the whole night with their bar colleagues putting out fires on the territory of that municipality, found a temporary place to rest on city benches.
According to Dragićević, what definitely needs to be done in Montenegro, when it comes to citizens, is the formation of more voluntary fire brigades, of which there are six in Boka Kotorska.
"In the bay it is at a very high level, however, the north of Montenegro has only a few volunteer fire brigades. It is necessary to invest more in order for citizens to join voluntary fire brigades, which would later have adequate training, find equipment and make themselves available and, accordingly, act. It is also necessary to organize volunteer units, which, if necessary and not related to voluntary fire brigades or protection services, could participate in firefighting, and training could be provided to them through the civil protection system, i.e. the Directorate for Protection and Rescue", he said. is he.
Dragićević reminds that in the civil sector in November last year they tried to organize several hundred volunteers, who would act in case of emergency situations - fires, floods or earthquakes.
"However, we encountered numerous administrative barriers and had to stop the project. We hope that starting in the fall, in cooperation with the MUP, we will start training and organizing volunteer units throughout Montenegro, in order to strengthen, first of all, the protection services, and then help Montenegro deal with emergency situations." , Dragićević said.
He appealed to all citizens that in the event of a fire situation, they should not drive their vehicles to the scene of the fire, that they should clear the roads, that they should not approach the fire alone, because, as he said, the fire is very unpredictable and could endanger their lives, and later the lives of the firefighters. but to always make themselves and their capacities and resources available to the heads of protection services at the local level.
Firefighter rescuer of the Cetinje protection service Slavko Šole Janković he said that the role of citizens "should have a much greater importance in any even remotely organized system than it has in the last 20 or more years".
"We have to systematically work on it, because every year we run into the same problems, because the citizens don't even have information, so apart from the desire to help, their role is very small. In some, I can freely say, long ago, there was civil protection, volunteers, who had an immeasurable contribution, now, due to the wrong approach of the responsible persons, it has been reduced to only professional firefighters, who often become powerless despite superhuman efforts," he said. "News".
Janković added that, if maximum efforts are not made, the damage caused by the fires - can never be compensated.
For several days, fires have been active in several locations on the Montenegrin coast.
A big fire broke out three days ago in the town of Črvanj above Crvena plaža, in the municipality of Bar, it was burning above Šušnja... Helicopters of the Army of Montenegro were engaged in extinguishing it, on inaccessible terrain.
"Airmen of the Army of Montenegro made 19 flights in 118 days to put out fires," announced the Ministry of Defense.
The Ministry of Defense posted on Twitter a helicopter video of the devastation left behind by the fire above Šušnje. In extinguishing the fire, as the deputy commander of the Bar Protection and Rescue Service told TV Vijesti Aco Vulević, one firefighter and a local resident were slightly injured.
As a result of the fire, railway traffic was interrupted until yesterday afternoon. Road was established earlier.
The Railways of Montenegro also took part in extinguishing the fire.
The Bar Democrats announced yesterday that, after the fire, "the second phase is coming in the coming days."
"Which must be approached with the same seriousness, the plan and the beginning of the reconstruction or reforestation of the destroyed area. As we can see, in addition to low vegetation, a large number of olive groves and pine forests burned down. We, the Rams, know best how susceptible this area is to landslides, so the danger after this fire will be significantly greater in that sense. An urgent afforestation plan is needed, so that this hill does not soon get the same name as the one in Sutomore, Golo brdo", he announced. Momcilo Leković, councilor of Democratic Montenegro in Bar.
Fires have been active in the Boka area for several days. Social networks are full of photos of beaches with a view of the surrounding fires.
Minister of Foreign Affairs Ranko Krivokapic for yesterday, he also announced the arrival of a special fire-fighting seaplane of the "Canadair CL-415 T" type from Croatia, but that did not happen, nor will it be realized in the foreseeable future.
Head of the Directorate for Protection and Rescue of the MUP Miodrag Bešović confirmed to "Vijesta" yesterday that Zagreb received a negative response to the official request for assistance, which the MUP sent to Croatia yesterday morning through official channels, in accordance with the bilateral agreement between the two countries.
"We received an answer that Croatia currently has only three 'Canadairs', of which only two are in operational condition, and that due to their own needs and firefighting that they have on their territory, they are not able to meet our request ", said Bešović.
Krivokapić announced on Twitter on Wednesday evening that it was through a Croatian colleague Goran Grlić-Radman managed to make Croatia available to Montenegro from yesterday one "Canadair" that will put out the fires in Boka.
And a minister without portfolio in the Government of Montenegro Adrian Vuksanovic (HGI) thanked the Croatian Prime Minister in a phone call on Wednesday evening Andrej Plenković "that 'Canadair' from Croatia will put out fires in Boka Kotorska". However, despite Krivokapić's promises and Vuksanović's thanks to Plenković, "Canadair" from Croatia did not arrive in Boka yesterday, and there is no chance that it will happen in the coming days.
The only available small fire-fighting aircraft of the "Air Tractor AT-802" type of the Montenegrin MUP was involved in extinguishing the fire in Boka, but that aircraft, after several hours of throwing "water bombs" at the fire site above Kamenar, had to stop its action and fly away for Podgorica. Bešović told "Vijesta" that "according to the procedure, after a certain time, the engine must cool down and be inspected by mechanics", and that the aircraft, after that and after it is refueled, can be involved in firefighting operations again.
Head of government Dritan Abazovic with the Minister of Internal Affairs Filip Adzić, the Minister of Health Dragoslav Šćekić, president of the municipality of Kotor Vladimir Jokić and Bešović visited the Kotor firefighters yesterday at the Dražin vrt location, where a large fire threatened nearby houses the night before.
"We congratulate all the local protection and rescue services in the country, which, with the support of the Ministry of Interior, the Army and voluntary associations and volunteers, show great sacrifice, professionalism and patriotism, defending houses and nature from the elements of fire", said Abazović and added that all who participate in firefighting be rewarded by the state.
"Amateur firefighters" as a possibility
Looking at the possibilities of engaging civilians as "amateur firefighters" is one of the conclusions stated in the report from the consultative hearing regarding the Final Report on the control audit on the effectiveness of the implementation of the recommendations given in the audit of success in the field of forest fire protection.
The report of the Committee for Tourism, Agriculture, Ecology and Spatial Planning was published at the end of June.
Previously, the State Audit Institution (DRI) assessed that Montenegro does not have sufficient protection against forest fires, that it is unable to provide effective protection with the existing model and available human resources. SAI gave 2019 recommendations to audit subjects in 42. The SAI said that of the total number of recommendations, 11 have been implemented, 18 have been partially implemented, 17 are in the implementation phase, and 23 have not been implemented.
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