PREVALLE: As firefighters in southern Kosovo prayed for rain in their battle against wildfires in the Sharr Mountains National Park, a young man on a motor-bike approached them and said: “I am here to help.”

Allmedin Smaili, 26, a dentist from the nearby town of Prizren, has been helping firefighters for seven days to stop a fire in the park where he and his friends usually go with their motorbikes to enjoy the thrill of riding over the harsh terrain.

Two men at the fire department base fill backpack waterbags of 25 liters each and Smaili transports them to other firefighters to use to douse the flames as huge areas of pine trees burn. Most of the time he carries two backpacks with water totalling 50 liters, food and bottles of drinking water.

“When I saw what firefighters are going through and how committed they are I told myself I have to do something,” Smaili said as he prepared to transport more water.

On Wednesday, Smaili called three other friends to transport more water as breeze stopped the flames and a US helicopter from the Nato peacekeeping mission in Kosovo started to drop water. The challenge is to stop slow burning trees which can ignite again with a more destructive fire.

“To reach the highest point with water on our back we need three hours and the boy (Smaili) was doing it in less than ten minutes,” said Flamur Hoti, the firefighters’ commander.

Published in Dawn, August 16th, 2024