FLASH
Shkruar nga Gjergj Zefi
The extreme "firestorm" phenomenon that appeared in France is no longer a distant scenario. With record temperatures, drought and fires recurring every August, Albania must also prepare for a new climate reality.
Every summer, the same story repeats itself. Temperatures soar to record levels, forests catch fire, the wind spreads the fires rapidly, and institutions appear before the cameras to say that "the situation was unexpected." But this time, no one can use the old excuse anymore: it took us by surprise.
Science has long sounded the alarm. What was considered an extreme phenomenon until yesterday has now become normal.
In France, giant fires created for the first time a pyrocumulonimbus; a cloud born from the flames themselves, capable of producing strong winds, lightning and new fires. In other words, fire no longer just consumes forests; it creates its own climate, its own weather, and becomes many times more dangerous.
Anyone who thinks this is a story that only belongs to France, Spain, Australia, or California is seriously mistaken.
Albania is also rapidly entering the same danger zone.
It is enough to remember the August of recent years. Vlorë, Karaburun, Llogara, Dukat, Delvinë, Mirditë, Kukës, Shkodër, Mallakastër. Every summer, the map of Albania is filled with red dots. Temperatures exceed 40 degrees Celsius, humidity drops to critical levels and strong winds turn every small hearth into an uncontrollable fire front.
So far we have been lucky. Or, more precisely, we have not yet experienced a phenomenon like the one that hit France. But the climatic conditions that create it are no longer academic theories. They are also present in the Balkans.
If extreme temperatures combine with drought, wind, and a large forest fire, conditions could be created over Albania for phenomena that until yesterday we only saw in documentaries.
And then a press conference saying that "the situation was unpredictable" will no longer be enough.
Climate experts have been warning for years that the Mediterranean is becoming one of the most dangerous global warming "hotspots." Albania is right in the heart of this region. This is not a matter of ideology, nor a political debate. It is physics, meteorology, and statistics.
Our problem is not a lack of information.
The problem is the lack of preparation.
The forests continue to remain uncleared. Forest roads are impassable. Aerial monitoring is sporadic. Early detection systems are still very weak. Municipalities are reminded of the emergency only when the flames approach homes. Every summer we see the same scene: tired firefighters, residents with buckets of water in their hands, helicopters that arrive late and optimistic statements that do not extinguish any flames.
Meanwhile, nature does not negotiate.
She does not wait for government meetings, administrative procedures, or tenders.
It functions according to its own laws.
And these laws are becoming increasingly strict.
Pyrocumulonimbus is not just a scientific term. It is the symbol of a new era, where fires are no longer seasonal incidents, but climatic disasters with unpredictable behavior and much greater destructive potential.
For this reason, Albania should not wait for the day when such a phenomenon appears over its forests to realize that the time for improvisation is over.
Because warnings exist.
The signs are before our eyes.
And when they are ignored, disasters are no longer surprises.
They are responsibilities.
Tomorrow, if the flames are bigger, faster and more merciless than anything we have seen so far, no one will have the right to come out before Albanians and say: "It took us by surprise."/ Pamphlet
Z.Zefi. Pylli i sodës në Vlorë mori zjarr në një ditë me lagështi dhe temperatura relativisht të ulta.Zjarret janë të qëllimshme. Qeveria mos të fal detyrime të prapambetura, qeveria mos të harxhoi para për patronazhistë, por të shtoi kujdesin dhe pagesat për mbikqyrje. Zyrat dhe zyrtarët në qëndër dhe ato në pushtetin lokal të hidhen në teren. Prokuroria gjithashtu, tani jo kur digjet vëndi. Kryetarë të Bashkive dhe zyrtarë të minnistrisë së bujqësisë tu anullohen lejet dhe ti spostojnë për muajin shtator. Policia e shtetit dhe shërbimi informativ ta konsiderojnë pjesë të punës së tyre mbikqyrjen dhe parandalimin e katastrofës që vjen nga zjarrvënia.