Skopje, 9 August 2024 (MIA) - Head of the Crisis Management Center (CMC) Stojanche Angelov and Interior Minister Panche Toshkovski visited Friday the Skopje Airport where the firefighting air tractors of the Protection and Rescue Directorate are located.

Toshkovski and Angelov met with the personnel, and acknowledged the courage and self-sacrifice of the pilots at the Protection and Rescue Directorate and their continuous activities in dealing with the wildfires, which is achieved in coordination with CMC.

According to the CMC, Toshkovski was briefed on the working conditions, after which he expressed regret that they were as such, as well as in terms of the staff shortage and low wages.

"The members of the aviation division at the Protection and Rescue Directorate, some of whom came out of retirement, along with the teams at the Department of Aviation Units at the Ministry of Interior and the Army's Aviation Wing, are heroes who are leading a daily battle against the fires our country is facing, and both Angelov and Toshkovski agree with this statement," CMC said in a press release.

Minister Toshkovski announced reforms in the crisis management system, both of an operational and of a material and technical nature.

"We agreed that the need to reform the system is great, and they will stay here as long as necessary, in order to save our forests and natural resources. The Ministry of Interior and its capacities will continue to extinguish the fires and find the persons responsible for starting and spreading the fires. Of the three pilots available to the Protection and Rescue Directorate, only one remained this year, after two met all requirements for old-age pension, but, in the meantime, they were called back due to the large number of summer wildfires," Toshkovski noted.

"In addition to meeting the pilots and reviewing the technical characteristics of the firefighting planes of the Protection and Rescue Directorate, and personnel, Angelov and Toshkovski met with the firefighting teams from Cyprus and Germany, who through EU's Civil Protection Mechanism are helping in the firefighting efforts," the press release reads. ssh/nn/ 

Photo: CMC