Update #28: Lurë Fire Emergency update! / July 25, 2025

The forests in Lurë-Dejës Mt. National Park have been burning for over two weeks. The first fires in the area were detected on July 9 and 10. Despite continuous efforts by local residents, forest workers, and the military on the ground every day to contain the fire’s spread, the situation remains critical.

EFFIS Copernicus data

We have been using European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) and Global Wildfire Information System (GWIS) to track the fire in Lurë-Dejës Mt. National Park and visualize data of the current situation on daily basis using QGIS.

The fire started around Liqeni i Luleve and has been spreading since despite the tremendous effort of the locals and institutions to bring it under control early. The first days of the fight brought it almost under control, as we can see from the video on 16th July. Later, unfortunately, the fire spread due to difficult terrain, winds, high temperatures into areas without any access.

2025 Fire: Development from 9th July - 25th July

As shown in the video (note the dates and spread), the fire is advancing into remote, rough terrain, making it incredibly difficult to access. The lack of infrastructure, off-road vehicles, and basic supplies is making it even more challenging to contain the flames.

2025 Fire: Estimated 3180+ ha burned since beginning till 25th July 2025

Help needed in Lurë

The local team urgently needs help with basic supplies! On Saturday morning, July 26, we will bring our L200 pick-up truck and extra diesel to Lurë to support the team on the ground. The vehicle will remain available and be used our local coordinator, Imer Mena (national park ranger) who has been fighting organizing local efforts since beginning. Pickup can transport people, material and the forest workers to help with daily firefighting tasks.

We will be leaving from Tirana on 26th July 2025 at 9:00. Meeting point at the parking lot close to Rruga Artan Lenja & Rruga Ndre Mjeda, see exact location on Google maps!

Supplies donation

If you can help with supplies, please get in touch with us via email or phone to arrange a time and place to meet before we leave on Saturday.

Since our budget is limited, we’re asking for your help with:

Fuel - for transporting people and tools
Tools - shovels, pickaxes, gloves, masks, etc.
Water pumps - Small petrol/diesel pumps (portable), creating water chain
Hose - 2" hose for connections

Financial donations

We have updated our Donation form to allow for donation designation so that you can donate towards the fire relief efforts. You can donate via our donation page and make sure to select LURË: Fire emergency support.

Every little action counts, let’s stand together for Lurë!

Next steps

Apart from delivering the supplies and the L200 to Lurë we want need to:

Meet with people fighting the fire and discuss how public can help
Visit the areas, collect/provide drone footage and photos of the fires and the damage
Discuss of setting up of the forward base to minimize the travel time and keep equipment close (we can provide large tent for the crew)
Plan for the 2nd supply run

On behalf of the whole team,
Pavel

Archive

Update #28: Lurë Fire Emergency update! / July 25, 2025

Lurë-Dejës Mt. National Park suffers huge forrest fire in July 2025

Update #27: Replanting and replacing trees / May 25, 2025

Replanting dead saplings in the 2023 planting area is part of the Spring season in Lurë.

Update #26: Starting the 2025 season! / March 30, 2025

Starting the 2025 season!

Update #25: Trees for Lurë becomes Trees for Albania / March 24, 2025

Trees for Lurë is evolving into Trees for Albania, marking an exciting new chapter in our journey.

Update #24: Sustainable reforestation network in Albania / March 6, 2025

We were awarded grant from the GreenAL program to implement project Sustainable reforestation network in Albania

Update #23: Join our team at Trees for Lurë! / February 12, 2025

We are looking for young professionals to join our team at Trees for Lurë!

Update #22: Overview of the 2024 / January 1, 2025

11,470 trees, education activities, NGO and institutional cooperations, new greenhouse and so much more in 2024!

Update #21: 2024 Monitoring report / October 4, 2024

Year 2024 was incredibly hot and dry, which had negative impact on the survival rate, we have 56.4% for the 2023 area, we are making changes for the 2024 season!

Update #20: Researcher from UK & week of meetings / July 7, 2024

Week of meetings with institutions and NGOs with researcher Stephen Haywood from the UK

Update #19: Overview of the 2023 / January 28, 2024

Overview and Brochure of our work in 2023, what a busy year it was!

Update #18: 10,081 planted in Autumn 2023 / December 15, 2023

We planted another 10,081 trees in 2023 bringing total number up to 22,793!

Update #17: Organising school events in 2023 / December 7, 2023

Organising school events in 2023

Update #16: Dorjan Bulku leaving Trees for Lurë / July 10, 2023

Dorjan Bulku decided to leave the project and focus on new exciting opportunities.

Update #15: Preparing seeds of Pinus nigra, Pinus peuce and Abies alba for planting / April 11, 2023

Seeds to grow 11 000 seedlings in our nursery are being prepared.