After many years of ignoring and the appeal for the procurement of fire extinguishers, the cantons in the south of Bosnia and Herzegovina rent a plane from Croatia on this summer, which will cost more than a million marks, ie about half a million euros.
With Herzegovinian firefighters, fires near Mostar and other southern cities, the past few days have been driven by the Air Tractor, owned by a private company from Osijek.
It was hired by the city authorities of Mostar and three cantons in the south of the country, and they are available from June to October.
The Federation of BiH has no own fire extinguisher, so the firefighters in that bh. entity reliance on the support of the armed forces helicopter in BiH.
In the second entity, Republika Srpska, in the other hand, there are helicopters that can be used to extinguish fire. But, and this proved insufficient for extinguishing larger fires, such as last year in the Sutjeska National Park when requested assistance from Serbia.
No aircraft and special fire units, firefighters in the area of Herzegovina, which is mostly affected by summer fires, “manually” extinguishes thousands of fires a year.
PERO PAVLOVIĆ, spokesman for the Government of Hercegovačko-Neretva Canton, says that in such circumstances, the hiring of the aircraft from Croatia was the only option, since the upper-level authorities were deaf on the purchase calls.
“We expected a reaction of higher levels of government, because when it burns in Herzegovina-Neretva Canton, it is a problem that is concerned. But unfortunately, there was no hearing, and we did not have the resources to buy themselves,” Pavlović said Radio Free Europe (RSE).
Procurement planned, so canceled
The story of the procurement of fire extinguishing aircraft in the Federation of BiH is more than ten years old.
For that in 2022. 30 million marks (about 15 million euros) were planned in the entity budget), but the money was redirected for other needs.
The then President of the Entity Government Fadil Novalić, who is in prison due to the procurement of inadequate respirators during the Pandemic of the Virus, justified the decision to redirect money with complicated public procurement.
At the time, at the time, the authorities of the civil protection of the Federation of BiH, which, in an earlier statement for RSE, confirmed that it has given the consent for redistribution of money, but without an explanation of why it was done.
And in the FBiH budget for 2023, three and a half million marks were allocated (about 1.7 million) for renting aircraft and four million (about two million euros) for the reconstruction of the hangar.
But the money was not used for those purposes, but the government has withdrawn, through the budget rebalance.
From the Government of the Federation of BiH and the Federal Civil Protection Administration until the announcement of the text, they did not answer the requests of the reasons for giving up on the purchase of aircraft and whether there are currently new procurement initiatives.
The President of the Entity Government Nermin Niksic said in June to rent a better move in renting than in the purchase of “Air Tractor”.
“It’s too expensive. You need to force the pilot, prepare the pilot, and you can’t eventually prevent him from renting, then you will have it for that period you rented,” Nikšić.
‘No political will’
Working group for the procurement of the aircraft, as well as the establishment of a special fire extinguisher in the Federation of BiH, was formed in late May 2022. years.
The group then prepared a study that predicted that three air tractors were purchased, two helicopters, and a dozen pilot, engineers and technicians.
The former member of this working group, who spoke for the RSE provided anonymity, says that everything was blocked due to the lack of political will.
“Then we finished the full study, but at that moment the authorities came and everything stops. That was political will, everything would be resolved, but that, at the same time, it starts in the procedure of creating our own capacities,” said.
Meanwhile, the prices grew, so today, he says, for Air Tractor instead of 2.7 million dollars then, about four million dollars.
In addition, it is a long-term process, given that, with procurement, the training of pilots and other staff that the BiH Federation is needed.
“The first elaborates were done in 2008. And to date we could have a unit in Croatia, which is one of Europe’s fire extinguishing, but to the political will, because we will not only look at the Federation if it burns in RS,” said the RSE interlocutor.
Hiring an airplane from Croatia, as he says, in the existing situation, well, but not permanently and the best solution as claimants of the entity authorities.
“Eventually this temporary solution will be more expensive than we gradually set out to build capacities. Next year it may not be interested in renting us. This company is doing a superior job, if someone offers more money,” he says.
Since 2006 until last year, fires in BiH have ravaged about 12 percent of the country’s territory, data are the European Fire Tracking Information System.
He breaks them up most in the summer, mostly, in the south of the country. Since the beginning of the summer this year, the fires, among others, booked in several settlements near Mostar, and in Posusje, Grudama and Široki Brijeg.
Mario Firefighter says for RSE that the procurement of the aircraft should be a priority to domestic authorities, but that local communities are left to themselves.
“Of course, it’s all a matter of money, and without the help of the state, it’s hard to go easier when they have to help with the neighboring countries and when the fire is clearing,” he says.
A contract on hiring a spacecraft from Croatia overlooks 50 hours of its flight per month.
It can act in the area of three cantons in the south of the country, which will share the cost with the Ministry of Transport and Communications of the Federation of BiH and the Civil Protection of Mostar.
Stationed at the Mostar Airport, with pilots and crews from Croatia, so far it has had 30 interventions in Herzegovina, state from the Government of the HNK.
Pero Pavlović, the cantonal government spokesman in Mostar says that the croatian from Croatia, with the helicopters of the Armed Forces of BiH, was of great assistance to firefighters, but that the only solution is to strengthen its own capacity.
“We need to find a way to solve the issue of squadron together, not to rely on the help of guys from BiH’s Armed Forces, which are extremely brave and bold, to the removal of fire, to assist whenever they call them,” he said.
He added that he hopes that this will motivate the authorities at other levels to think about the purchase of two-three aircraft, so that they would not depend on the rent.
Investments required in Rs
Fires that have previously erupted in certain areas of the RS have been shut down or are inserted under control, the information is from the administration of civil protection of that entity.
Acting Director of the Management Board, Boris Trninić, says that in Tom bh. The entity There are plans for the purchase of additional helicopters, as well as needed to be invested in the early warning systems on the risk of fire outing.
“These systems are very expensive, but it would surely pay off, because only last year of damage were multimillionic. We are not left to base the addition of strengths and efforts to reduce the damages from the RSE.”
Bosnia and Herzegovina joined the European Union for Civil Protection Mechanism, which means that it is available to her by the help of a member of the body in the event of any accident, including fires.
The BiH Council of Ministers passed a few days ago, the decision to seek international fire extinguishing assistance, in case of assessment that BiH, with its own resources, is unable to react effectively.
In recent years, there have been criticisms from civil society in recent years in the address of the state authorities, unlike other countries, in the fight against fire did not use the mechanism of international aid.
