PM: 200ha of forest burnt in Borjomi Gorge, preliminary assessment says

About 200 hectares of forests have been burnt during the Borjomi Gorge fire that lasted seven days, the Prime Minister says.

Giorgi Kvirikashvili summed up the situation regarding the forest fire in Borjomi Gorge at today’s governmental meeting. He said that the exact scale of the disaster is still being assessed but preliminary estimations say that about 200 hectares of forests were burnt.

He added that now that the fire is extinguished, the restoration of the forest is the next goal.

A forest fire broke out in Borjomi Gorge in south-central Georgia on August 20. It took the government, its firefighters and emergency workers and helpers from partner countries one week to put out the blaze.

It took seven days to fully extinguish the Borjomi Gorge forest fire. Photo: PM's press office.

Kvirikashvili tasked Finance Minister Dimitry Kumsishvili to make sure everyone involved in the fire extinguishing works receives financial bonuses for the commitment they demonstrated during the disaster. The Prime Minister said a total of 3,000 people were involved in the efforts.

"Thanks to our joint efforts and coordinated work, we managed, first of all, to save people's lives, protect their property and save a massive area of forest from being destroyed. The risk of all of these actually existed and I think that we efficiently overcame this challenge”, Kvirikashvili said.

PM: "Systemic challenges needed in Georgia’s crisis management mechanism”

However, Kvirikashvili added that the disaster demonstrated the need of "future systemic changes” and the renovation of infrastructure.

"Today, when we are facing global warming, we all see what is happening in Europe and in the world. Any country should be ready for such a challenge. I think that we need to renew our relevant infrastructure, vehicles and also to make changes in our crisis management system”, Kvirikashvili said.

He added that as soon as the Abastumani fire – another forest fire in Georgia that broke out the day after Borjomi fire was extinguished – is liquidated, the government will have to start working on all of these issues.

He said that both in this year and next year’s budgets, financial resources must be considered for such systemic changes that will make Georgia more prepared for these kinds of challenges.