Albania cannot afford fires according to the Supreme State Audit after considering that the Civil Defense Agency is unable to assess catastrophes and suffers from a lack of human resources.

Last year, the institution launched a probe into the first response to the fires that burned over 8,000 hectares of land across the country.

The Ministry of Defense had only one functional helicopter, out of the four it declared to have in possession.

Germany came to the rescue, and the country had to around €302,500 for 89 hours of work.

But, according to the procedure, they should have been paid for 77 hours, as the contract only included the time spent in putting out the fires and not its back-and-forth travel.

Therefore, the Supreme State Audit said the damage should be paid by the contracting company.

The institution also checked out the state of the firefighter services in 55 municipalities and noted that many engines were produced in the 60s-70s and lacked protective equipment.

Also, the authority noted that the number of full-time fire department employees in proportion to the population is low, and Civil Emergencies must take measures to increase capacities.

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