Podgorica, (MINA) – Montenegro’s competent authorities have achieved a high level of preparedness for the upcoming fire season, it was assessed at the meeting of the Operational Rescue and Protection Headquarters, while stressing the need to continue strengthening the system’s capacity.

The meeting, chaired by the Director General of the Rescue and Protection Directorate Miodrag Besovic, was also attended by Chief of the General Staff of the Army of Montenegro Miodrag Vuksanovic, police representative Milika Perovic, representative of the Institute for Hydrometeorology and Seismology Tanja Mirkovic, as well as representatives if other institutions involved in the protection and rescue system.

“It was concluded that the competent authorities have achieved a high level of preparedness for the upcoming fire season, while activities to further strengthen the system’s capacity will continue”, the Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) announced.

Speaking about operational capacity improvements, Besovic said that this year the Directorate acquired six firefighting engines, three firefighting water tankers and mobile water reservoirs, while the procurement of another 11 firefighting engines and 13 firefighting vehicles is underway.

The Directorate, as announced by the Ministry of Internal Affairs, currently operates with one Air Tractor aircraft and a leased Antonov aircraft, while the maintenance work on the remaining two Air Tractor aircraft is almost completed.

Vuksanovic said that the Army would provide full support to the rescue and protection system, recalling that military aircraft flew 245 hours during last year’s fire season.

“The meeting also confirmed that, if necessary, Montenegro will activate the EU Civil Protection Mechanism through the CECIS platform, while in parallel the improvement of the 112 system, the Montenegrin information system for risk management and activities on the centralization of emergency services, continues”, the press release said.