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"Vlora in Flames": Fires from Debris, Investigations and the Failure of Public Promises

2025-06-17 18:12:18Aktualitet SHKRUAR NGA ANILA HOXHA
"Vlora in Flames": Fires from Debris, Investigations and the Failure
"Vlora in Flames": Fires from Debris, Investigations and the Failure of Public Promises

On the edge of a waste field in the “24 Maji” neighborhood of Vlora, 38-year-old Zamir Qama tries to protect some olive tree roots in his yard. With a wheelbarrow, he throws fertilizer and water at them, while in front of him, fires in the open waste dump flare up without stopping.

“I do it because I want to stop this mess,” he says, pointing to the mountain of waste. Although in April 2025 the mayor of Vlora, Ermal Dredha, announced that the Sherishta landfill had started operating, the situation on the ground proves otherwise.

Trucks continue to unload urban waste at the old landfill, not only from Vlora but also from Orikum. Meanwhile, the fire that started in the first week of June disturbed quite a few vacationers who had made plans for the beach.

For Zamir, who has returned from Ireland to live with his mother, it is a personal battle. His home is just metres from a polluted field, where, in the absence of a functional fence, livestock graze on the waste and fires often spread.

"It's become unbearable, the garbage keeps getting bigger and bigger, and every time I wake up with the garbage on fire, I know I'm being harmed because I know for sure that it's carcinogenic," the 38-year-old tells Citizens.

"Vlora in Flames": Fires from Debris, Investigations and the Failure
Zamir Qama pointing at the mountain of waste in Vlora/A.Hoxha.

"An environmental emergency"

The Supreme State Audit Office (SSA) has noted that the Vlora landfill does not have other technical structures that could minimize negative effects, apart from the fenced separation area.

"Because the rest of the landfill is not fenced, people and animals can enter freely," an audit by the Albanian Supreme Audit Institution (ALSH) states.

But this is just one of the problems listed for the open landfill. Auditors are careful to document fires, lack of controls, and even untreated water that pollutes the land and sea.

Environmental expert Mihallaq Qirjo, in addition to these concerns, adds air pollution as equally dangerous.

"Waste is often burned intentionally to extract scrap, or it can also happen unintentionally because it can ignite spontaneously when methane gas is produced," explains Qirjo, who explains that such areas around waste should not only be secured with fences, but should be treated with segregation and management.

However, along with the announcement that waste disposal at the Sherishta landfill had begun, albeit with a two-year delay, Mayor Dredha did not give a fixed date for when the Vlora landfill, which continues to be a problem, will be closed.

"Vlora in Flames": Fires from Debris, Investigations and the Failure
Zamir Qama's olive grove near the waste dump in Vlora/A.Hoxha.

"We are doing a pilot operation there [waste encapsulation], in order to do as much as we can. This is mostly to avoid fires during the tourist season," the municipal official stated, but the encapsulation has not yet started, which means that the risk of fires and pollution remains the same.

"Fires, promises and investigations"

The latest massive fire broke out on June 7, 2025, once again blanketing the coastal city in black clouds of smoke. Unlike other times, the police referred five local officials of the Cleaning Company, including drainage board workers, to the prosecutor's office on suspicion that they neglected their duty to extinguish the flames, causing environmental pollution.

It was officially announced that the fire had broken out as a result of high temperatures, but the Vlora prosecution admitted to Citizens.al that there are three files under investigation regarding the fires at the Vlora landfill: July 2023, May 2025, June 2025.

She says that these fires have caused consequences for people's lives and health, a crime punishable by up to 10 years, while in parallel, suspicions of abuse of office by employees or public officials are also being investigated.

The names of the suspects were kept secret and were not made available to the Citizens.al editorial team.

Expert Mihallaq Qirjo insists that local government also has a responsibility, as institutions have reacted slowly to waste management. He emphasizes that waste management remains the responsibility of the municipality, which, in conditions where they do not have the capacity or space, is content only with their transportation.

Faced with reports from residents in the operations room, the local police, on the other hand, told Citizens that they have referred several cases to the prosecutor's office in the period 2023-2025, related to "fires observed in the urban waste collection area."

The municipality also says that it has cooperated with the police and prosecutor's office in investigating the fires, while officially stating to Citizens that "finding the culprits and bringing them to justice has not been possible."

"Vlora in Flames": Fires from Debris, Investigations and the Failure
Trucks unloading at the waste landfill in Vlora/A.Hoxha.

While justice has not yet come up with a balance sheet for those responsible for the pollution and damage to the health of citizens in Vlora, official documents show that since 2020 there has been correspondence about the operationalization of the Sherishta landfill.

But in parallel with these efforts and projects, the existing waste field in the city, that of the "24 Maji" neighborhood, has faced fires every year, which have burned tons of waste in the most dangerous way, seriously endangering public life and health.

The Albanian Supreme Audit Institution (KSAI) raised the alarm about this situation in an audit conducted on the Municipality of Vlora, which not only did not deposit the waste in the new landfill, but also did not pay the fees for its deposit.

The SAI report notes that the municipality of Vlora increased its revenues from 2.79 billion lek (2020) to 3 billion (2022). At the same time, it also increased its waste management expenses from 268.6 million lek (2020) to around 340.3 million (2022).

In this dynamic, the disposal of waste in the “24 Maji” neighborhood has continued without any criteria, causing damage to the environment and endangering the health of residents. The auditors also report the depreciation of properties located near the open waste field.

"You can see the house is almost empty, we will fix it, but here everything is polluted by smoke and bad smell, I don't know where to start," says Zamir.

Promises for “Vlora without waste” and reality

In 2023, the “Vlora Zero Waste” initiative was presented, part of a 5-year plan for integrated waste management. During local consultations, it was revealed that the Ministry of Finance had signed an agreement to finance the solid waste management project in the Vlora region.

The project includes a loan of 12 million euros and three grants worth a total of 14.3 million euros. The main investment is the construction of the Waste Management Center in Sherishte.

"Vlora in Flames": Fires from Debris, Investigations and the Failure
Cattle grazing on the mountain with waste in Vlora/A.Hoxha.

This center will process about 1.2 million tons of waste and would include: the construction of a sanitary landfill, a gas collection system, a wastewater treatment plant, a plant for separating recyclable waste (with a capacity of 55 thousand tons/year), as well as a space for composting organic waste (up to 4,200 tons/year).

Also, the closure of existing landfills in Vlora and Selenica was foreseen, as well as the purchase of vehicles for road cleaning and waste transportation.

However, works on the Sherishta landfill, which began in June 2020 and were supposed to be completed by the end of 2021, were halted due to investigations by the Special Anti-Corruption Structure (SPAK) into the company "Integrated Technology Services" (ITS), which was building it.

In March 2022, the Special Court ordered the seizure of the company's assets, and the administration of the works was transferred to the Sequestered Assets Administration Agency. But this institution failed to continue the works and the project stalled.

Due to the unpaid obligations of the ITS company to third parties and the blocking of bank accounts, in October 2023 the municipality of Vlora terminated the contract with ITS.

Meanwhile, environmental inspectors, in an inspection on October 11, 2024, found that only buildings for the selection and storage of recyclable waste had been built in Sherishte, but the waste was still not being deposited.

The old waste field, in the "24 Maji" neighborhood in the city of Vlora, which does not have an environmental permit, remains active.

It is estimated that around 400,000 m3 of waste have been deposited there. In a response to Citizens.al, environmental inspectors say that they cannot inspect fields without a permit as they do not have the legal authority to do so. Meanwhile, the Vlore municipality states that 53,406 tons of waste have been produced in 2024 alone.

"Vlora in Flames": Fires from Debris, Investigations and the Failure
Part of the Vlora landfill on fire June 2025/A.Hoxha

At the end of 2024, an official document shows that inspectors had visited the Sherishta landfill again and had concluded that the facility was not yet operational. The works were in the final stages, but the acceptance of waste had not begun.

In a response to Citizens, the Vlora municipality confirmed that in addition to the city's waste, the existing "24 Maji" field also collects waste from Orikum and several surrounding administrative units.

There is no monitoring report for the existing landfill, although fires occur frequently. The municipality says that its interventions in cases of fires are limited and include only mechanical methods such as moving, leveling and covering with soil or inert materials.

Asked by Citizens in April 2025 when the open landfill would be closed, the Municipality responded: "Currently there are no changes, until work begins on the Sherishta landfill."

But in a public appearance on June 14, Mayor Dredha admitted that even after the opening of Sherishta, Vlora will face the waste problem at least until 2027.

He added that temporary interventions are currently being undertaken with the means available to the municipality. “There is composted waste in that field for more than 40 years. Only by magic can you claim that there will be no fires there,” he said./  Citizens.al

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