Of the five aircraft at the disposal of the Air Helicopter Unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, only one firefighting aircraft is currently in working order, and the Directorate for Protection and Rescue expects to be able to repair some more and put them into operation by the upcoming fire season.
Montenegro is vulnerable to climate hazards such as droughts, floods, forest fires and heat waves, and projections show that these climate extremes will become more frequent and pronounced in the future. In the period from 2005 to 2015, there were about 800 major forest fires, and over 18 hectares of forests and over 800 cubic meters of wood were damaged or destroyed.
The worst fire season in Montenegro was in 2017, when, according to available data, a larger area under the forest was lost than in the thirty-year period between 1955 and 1985.
Acting Director General of the Directorate for Protection and Rescue, Miodrag Bešović, said that Montenegro is investing efforts in the fight against the negative effects of climate change, in order to ensure prosperity for current and future generations.
"We are witnessing that higher temperatures are exacerbating many types of modern disasters, including severe storms, floods, heat waves, increased droughts, warming and rising oceans, loss of species, food shortages, more health risks, poverty and displacement," Bešović told the MINA agency.
When asked how capable Montenegro is of responding to these challenges, he replied that it depends on the intensity of the disaster.
"Depending on the strength and intensity, Montenegro can respond to challenges with its own resources. However, if it is a disaster of great intensity, such as devastating earthquakes, fires that cover a wide area and the like, in that case, we also have the resources of other member states at our disposal through the Civil Protection Mechanism of the European Union," explained Bešović.
He pointed out that much more developed countries cannot respond to increasingly frequent and intense disasters with their own resources, without international help, citing as examples the earthquake in Turkey, fires in Greece and floods in Slovenia.
Asked how, in general, he would assess the state of the protection and rescue system and where its weakest points are, Bešović said that statistical data show that in the previous period, in the case of natural and other disasters, there were no human casualties and no major material damage.
He clarified that the system of protection and rescue in Montenegro is unique and is designed so that it is made up of citizens, entrepreneurs and other legal entities, local governments with their bodies and services and the state with all state bodies, administrative bodies and organizations with their obligations and tasks in accordance with the Law on Protection and Rescue.
Bešović reminded that the system of protection and rescue in Montenegro was established after the restoration of independence in 2006, in accordance with the European principle of decentralization of power.
"In the previous period, due to the lack of financial resources, we were unable to form civil protection units and thus gain a massive response to natural and other disasters," said Bešović.
He pointed out that, without the active participation of citizens, the private sector and other institutions, the protection and rescue system will be based only on the response of municipalities and the state.
According to Bešović, the lack of a protection system is insufficient, that is, the uneven equipment of the protection and rescue services in the coastal and central regions, compared to the northern ones.
When asked if he thinks that the funds allocated by the state for the protection system are sufficient for its optimal functioning, Bešović replied that there is never enough equipment and funds in that system.
"In previous years, certain funds were allocated from the budget for the functioning of the system, while this year we managed to obtain funds for the purchase of certain specialized missing equipment," said Bešović.
Also, as he stated, the Directorate for Protection and Rescue managed in the previous period, through projects and various international donations, to acquire equipment for the dominant risks to which Montenegro is exposed.
Answering the question of whether they are already preparing for the upcoming fire season and what activities they are undertaking to adequately respond to that challenge, Bešović said that preparatory and preventive activities are carried out before each fire season.
"Through the sessions of the Operational Headquarters and the Municipal Protection and Rescue Team, increased inspections, checking the correctness and preparation of response equipment, implementing protection and rescue plans at the local and national level," added Bešović.
As he stated, training and additional members of all services in the protection and rescue system are being practiced and other standard operating procedures are being undertaken in order to be ready for the upcoming fire season.
When asked how many aircraft the Air Helicopter Unit of the MUP currently has, what condition they are in and whether they will be operational by the beginning of summer, Bešović said that the fleet of the Air Helicopter Unit Directorate consists of two twin-engine medium multipurpose helicopters AB 212 and AB 412 and three single-engine turboprops. fire fighting aircraft AT 802/802A.
"Currently, one firefighting aircraft is working, and when it comes to the upcoming fire season, we are working to put the aircraft in the repair and servicing phase into operation, and we expect that a part of them will be ready," said Bešović.
Asked whether the acquisition of new aircraft was planned, considering the age of the existing ones, he said that the budget for this year did not plan the acquisition of new aircraft.
"We will try, in accordance with the possibilities, to procure one firefighting plane through international grants. "Depending on the state's financial capabilities, we will require the purchase of new aircraft in the coming period," added Bešović.
Asked what is the state of the municipal services for protection and rescue and whether they have enough equipment and staff to respond to challenging tasks, he said that these services have 660 firefighters-rescuers and 177 specialized fire trucks.
Even in the civil sector, they agree that climate hazards are a challenge for much more advanced countries than Montenegro.
Environmental activist Aleksandar Dragićević said that even countries that have continuously invested in training, equipment and preparation for a climate disaster in the past decades cannot say that they are capable of responding to the challenges brought by global warming.
As he stated, long periods of drought, rainfall that is not evenly distributed and brings floods, forest fires that are more frequent and more destructive than 30 or 50 years ago, are no longer anomalies, but have become the rule.
"For decades, Montenegro has failed to build capacities and prepare adequately. We see the consequences and pay for them every year," Dragićević pointed out.
He believes that the lack of equipment and personnel in almost all local governments and the absence of an adequate system of civil protection and a significant number of trained volunteers are the weakest points of the protection and rescue system in Montenegro.
"We have not adequately incorporated new technologies, such as drones for firefighting and monitoring, we do not have enough modern vehicles, our firefighting aircraft are constantly grounded or damaged. We haven't renewed that fleet for years, and without aerial support fighting fires in a period of drought is almost impossible," said Dragićević.
As he stated, it is necessary to organize trainings and create a network of volunteers in all municipalities, to dedicate ourselves to the education of local communities on how to adequately prevent waste and to rejuvenate the protection services where necessary.
"How ready we are for the upcoming fire season is best shown by the fact that out of five firefighting aircraft, only one is operational. That unit also lacks an officer and I know that they are doing their best within their capabilities to get all the aircraft ready by the summer. We can only hope that it will succeed," said Dragićević.
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