Danger from fires in Prespa e Vogel/ Expert: About 49 hectares of vegetation were burned

2024-11-14 13:59:00, Qyteti im CNA

Danger from fires in Prespa e Vogel/ Expert: About 49 hectares of vegetation

The burning of a significant surface area in the habitat in the Vogël i Prespa lake has raised quite a bit of concern, both among the residents of the area and among environmental specialists.

The latter also evidence the departure of living things from this area due to fires.

"The lake was a great natural asset, but it must be said that it does not exist. The lake basin area is currently occupied by grasses and reeds. The villagers, not being acclimatized to this new habitat, burned the surface, and as the village headman says, 40 hectares of surface. With the drying up of the lake, a new habitat was created, the old creatures left and new ones arrived, in a new habitat. The lake area was a real microjungle in Little Prespa. As a result of this burning, the living creatures left the area, perhaps definitively.

Danger from fires in Prespa e Vogel/ Expert: About 49 hectares of vegetation

The Prespa basin will be depleted in terms of biodiversity, but they think that with the drying of the lake, the area of ??planted land will increase. This lake was part of the Great and Little Presep basin. When the pelicans came, they made a nest, with the burning of the surface, he ran away, his nest was burned. There are various birds, ducks, storks, but they will leave with the fire. Prespa e Vogël will be impoverished, the natural life will decrease, it will decrease and as a result it will be felt later and this is something negative", said the environmental expert, Llazo Stojani.

As they state that burning the vegetation in the area does not bring benefits, the residents point out that there was a fire about a week ago.

"5-6 days ago there were flames, there were many flames. Residents have turned on him because he doesn't take it himself. There is no profit of any kind. Even years burned. The bad thing is that it is without water, so they burned it. Nothing wins, they do bad. The more you wait, the more it adds up. The fire lasted 4-5 hours. Even years this part burned, the fire brigade came to prevent the mountain from catching fire", said the resident.

Danger from fires in Prespa e Vogel/ Expert: About 49 hectares of vegetation

The mayor of the village of Zagradec, Enver Llomi, has stated that the burnt surface reaches from 30 to 49 hectares.

"Almost every year in this period it is burned, when autumn comes. Irresponsible people put a match to it, because there is no interest in burning it, they do it in vain. The burned area is 30-49 hectares. The negative impact is great, all the birds that have nests there have been burned. The curly pelican has its habitat there, there are also coots, ducks, in small quantities, but there are also fish. The damage is great. If you look at the street, all the burning came from the house, polluting the environment. It lasted for a whole day, but the Bilishti fire brigade came, the protected areas and we the people, but there was nothing we could do about it, except for it to die out by itself.

Danger from fires in Prespa e Vogel/ Expert: About 49 hectares of vegetation

No benefit, you burned it, it's better not to burn it, because there are reeds that are used, but they burned them. The curly pelican, there are ducks, coots and herons as we call them. If you notice them, they are where there are no reeds. The fish is carp, but in the period of April-May, because now there is no water, it has remained as a canal, because the water level has dropped", emphasized Llomi.

In the summer season of this year, our country faced numerous fires caused by high temperatures, but also by the citizens themselves. In many cases, fires were used to regenerate pastures, but they got out of control and then the situation worsened. Deliberate arson is a criminal offense in Albania. / CNA