Prime Minister thanks helicopter crews, firefighters for their efforts

Georgia’s Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili has thanked Georgian and neighboring countries’ helicopter crews, as well as firefighters, for their “huge efforts” in the Borjomi Gorge.

The PM arrived at the scene where the crews were deployed and paid special thanks to the pilots and crew members from Georgia, Azerbaijan, Turkey and Belarus.

Kvirikashvili stressed that the fight against the fire expressed friendship and partnership.

Two helicopters of Georgia’s Border Police, one helicopter of the Azerbaijani Emergency Situations Agency and two of the Azerbaijani Border Police, as well as two helicopters and one plane of the Turkish Forestry Service, and one helicopter from the Emergency Situations Agency of Belarus, were involved in the activities against the mass fire destroying more than 100 hectares of forest area.

The PM expressed special gratitude to the Georgian and neighboring countries’ firefighters.

Georgia’s neighbors really deserve thanks and praise for their help; expressing gratitude to Georgia’s firefighters is also an honourable move by the government.

However, there are some who might claim that the government’s gratefulness to Georgia’s firefighters is little more than empty words; the average salary of Georgian firefighters in the country’s regions is GEL 500, and GEL 800 in Tbilisi.

The salary is extremely low for people who have one of the riskiest professions.

In 2014, the current state leadership created the Crisis Management Agency, the agency responsible for dealing with such situations, and since then has allocated about GEL 15 million for the agency.

The total monthly salary for top 10 officials, out of a 72-people staff, equals GEL 24,000.

The best thanks for firefightersis a worthy salary for them to ensure normal lives for their families.