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‘I am here to help’, this was a young man’s unwavering promise to firefighters battling flames at Kosovo’s Sharr Mountains.
Allmedin Smaili, a dentist from the town of Prizren, had no specialised gear when he turned up to volunteer; just his motorbike and sheer determination to stop the fire from spreading.
His lack of firefighting experience did not deter him.
The 26-year-old grabbed a few jugs of water and then raced up to the top of the mountain where huge areas of pine trees burn.
One of the other motocross volunteers at the bottom of the national park (Picture: Reuters)
This is what he has been doing for the past week – driving his motorbike up and down the hills, delivering water to firefighters.
Two men at the fire department base fill backpack waterbags of 25 liters each and Allmedin then transports them to other teams to use to douse the flames.
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,’ he said said as he prepared to transport more water.
Allmedin loading a water bag to carry to the top of the mountain (Picture: Reuters)
The Sharr Mountains is where Allmedin and his friends go with their motorbikes to ride over the harsh terrain.
On Wednesday, the volunteer called three other friends to transport more water as breeze stopped the flames.
A US helicopter from the Nato peacekeeping mission in Kosovo also started to drop water.
The challenge is to stop slow burning trees which can ignite again with a more destructive fire.
Smoke is seen rising from the pine trees at the top (Picture: Reuters)
Video from a GoPro camera shows Allmedin handing water to his new colleagues as his motorbike sped along trails made by brown bears and wild goats.
‘Cross motor-bike is a hobby for me but this week in turned into a real job,’ he said, smiling.
‘When I see the impact, it gives me pleasure and I never got tired during these days.’
Steep slopes can be seen from his left and right side through traces of old burned areas which are still visible.
Fire trucks cannot reach the terrain some 1,900 meters above the sea level.
‘To reach the highest point with water on our back we need three hours and the boy was doing it in less than ten minutes,’ said Flamur Hoti, the firefighters’ commander.
‘We never imagined he could be so helpful.’
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