Burning Question: Balkan Countries Scramble to Confront Rising Wildfire Threats

As the Mediterranean climate zone continues to shift and heatwaves intensify, Balkan countries are facing the 2025 wildfire season with mixed levels of preparedness.

Some, like Greece, demonstrate robust tactical readiness but still fail to address strategic imbalances. Others, like Serbia and North Macedonia, mask deficiencies with political spin or creative improvisation. In Turkey, unresolved institutional debts threaten lives, while Kosovo’s overburdened firefighters are left to fight with too little, too late.

What is clear is that climate change is accelerating the threat and that the region is already on the brink.

With the scars of previous summers still raw and the terrain already dry, the question is no longer just whether fires will continue to come, but whether Balkan countries will be ready for them.

Turkey: emerging fires constantly outpace resources