The firefighter's story, he puts himself at risk to save others

Afrim Gjeli is always ready to help the citizens. 

He is now the leader of the Fire Brigade in Drenas, but he started working 22 years ago as a fire engine driver. 

He says he chose this profession because through it he could fulfill his desire to help anyone in need. 

"I started work on December 5, 2003. First I was a fire engine driver and then I completed many trainings to rise professionally and I also completed the faculty for public safety. Being a firefighter is a very noble and humane job, which I always wanted to do regardless of the dangerous interventions we participate in", says Gjeli.

Firefighters are involved in various interventions and the cases are of different natures. 
The most sensitive remain those when the citizen's life is in danger, and especially the cases when they end in fatality. 

Losing the life of an entire family from an explosion in their home was the most difficult case in all the years of working as a firefighter. 

"We carry out interventions of different natures except for fires, because it is almost known that we have two or three fires a day. Fortunately, the level of professionalism in our interventions has also increased. Difficult cases are those of traffic accidents where we have a high degree of sensitivity until we reach the scene. But the most difficult case for me in all these years of work was the Berisha family in Vasileva, which ended fatally from the explosion of the gas in their house", says Gjeli. 

The Fire Service Unit in Drenas, Gjeli says it needs more firefighters. He had proposed the establishment of the new unit in Komoran. 

"If we talk about the personal clothing of a firefighter in our unit, we are not bad, because we are supplied with these equipment every 5 years, but we are very bad with a small number of staff. There are also 22 firefighters missing in the staff, to operate according to the regulation, therefore we ask our institutions to treat us more seriously. A few years ago, I also made a request to establish a new point in Komorana as a strategic point since it is located in the middle and can cover all highways of Kosovo", says Gjeli.

Gjeli also says that this unit lacks vehicles. 

"To complete the service that we can offer as a fire department, we must also have other vehicles. We must have a command vehicle that preceded the new vehicles, we must have a tanker truck since we have many difficulties in supplying water", says Gjeli. 

The leader of the Fire Brigade in Drenas, Afrim Gjeli, ends his story with a request to the state - to take more seriously the improvement of the conditions of this community because of the risks they take to save the citizens.