Abstract
First responders are crucial to disaster risk management in the Western Balkans, but their capacity and preparedness vary significantly across countries and sectors. To enable comparable, evidence-based insights, this review uses a harmonized Readiness to Respond (R2R) framework across five key sectors: firefighting and rescue, police, emergency medical services (EMS), civil protection, and armed forces. It evaluates national preparedness in the Western Balkans with the goals to (i) assess sectoral and system-wide readiness against international standards; (ii) standardize measurement through the R2R index; and (iii) identify key gaps and practical opportunities to strengthen resilience. The review combines quantitative and qualitative data across six dimensions: Staffing, Equipment & Infrastructure, Training & Education, Legislation & Strategies, Coordination & Governance, and Main Challenges. Sector scores range from 0 to 60, with an overall or system score from 0 to 360, normalized across tiers. Data sources include official documents, international reports, and secondary literature, supplemented by expert judgment when data are missing or inconsistent. No country reaches high readiness (≥281/360); Serbia (275/360) and Montenegro (270/360) score highest but still fall within the medium readiness category. Furthermore, Albania (243/360) is moderate, while North Macedonia (220/360) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (205/360) lag. Police and armed forces generally outperform EMS and civil protection, which face staffing shortages, aging equipment, uneven training, and fragmented governance. Firefighting capacity varies greatly, with Montenegro excelling while others demonstrate modest capability. Montenegro exhibits the most balanced overall profile, whereas Bosnia and Herzegovina ranks lowest due to structural fragmentation, with Serbia and Albania in the middle, and North Macedonia trailing slightly. Four main regional constraints are identified: outdated equipment and infrastructure, persistent human resource shortages (notably in EMS and specialized rescue), weak multi-level coordination, and reliance on external aid for modernization and training. Moving from moderate to high readiness requires lifecycle-based fleet renewal, expanding accredited training and retention programs, harmonizing SOPs and metrics, establishing integrated asset and incident registries, and defining volunteer roles. Countries need to shift from donation-based procurement to multi-year, standards-driven capability development, co-financed through EU/NATO/UN mechanisms. Given shared risks and limited scale, cross-border cooperation—such as mutual aid, pooled aerial firefighting and CBRN assets, and joint exercises—offers the most cost-effective way to build interoperable, resilient first responder systems across the Western Balkans.
Conclusions
This review systematically assessed first-responder capacities in the Western Balkans, focusing on five key sectors—firefighting and rescue, police, EMS, civil protection, and armed forces—using the Readiness to Respond (R2R) framework. By combining sector-specific (0–60) and overall (0–360) indices, the study provided both detailed intra-sector analysis and broad cross-country compari-sons.
The comparison tables revealed notable disparities within and across countries. Firefighting and rescue services showed the most significant variation: Montenegro achieved perfect readiness (60/60), while Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia faced significant gaps due to frag-mentation, outdated equipment, and dependence on volunteers. Serbia and Albania ranked mid-level, hindered by staff shortages and limited aerial firefighting. Police forces generally performed better, with Serbia (47/60) and Montenegro (45/60) leading; however, issues such as politicization, corruption, and uneven rural coverage persisted. EMS remained the weakest sector, with scores ranging from 26 to 37 out of 60, struggling with staffing, aging fleets, and a lack of standardized protocols, although Albania made progress with recent reforms. Civil protection systems varied and faced resource constraints, with Bosnia and Herzegovina scoring 25/60, Serbia 32/60, and Mon-tenegro 35/60—better but still underfunded. The armed forces offered moderate stability, with Ser-bia’s larger, mixed-capacity forces (40/60) contrasting with the smaller, NATO-integrated, resource-limited militaries in Montenegro, North Macedonia, and Albania.
On a cross-sectoral level, Montenegro (41.2/60) stood out as the most balanced system, driven by strong firefighting and police sectors, while Bosnia and Herzegovina (29.5/60) scored lowest due to systemic fragmentation. Serbia (36.4/60), Albania (35.6/60), and North Macedonia (32.4/60) re-mained mid-range. Composite scores echoed this pattern: Serbia (275/360) and Montenegro (270/360) ranked highest, but still fell within the medium readiness category. Albania (243/360) was moderate, while North Macedonia (220/360) and Bosnia and Herzegovina (205/360) lagged behind.
None of the countries reached high readiness levels (≥281/360), and all stayed at a medium lev-el. Sectoral imbalances persist, with police and armed forces appearing relatively stronger, whereas EMS and civil protection remain critical challenges. Institutional fragmentation and dualist struc-tures, especially in Bosnia and Herzegovina and North Macedonia, hamper coordination. Common systemic issues include aging equipment, human-resource shortages, weak coordination, and reli-ance on external donors for training and modernization. On a positive note, practices like Montene-gro’s firefighting, Serbia’s police and armed forces, and Albania’s EMS reforms set promising ex-amples. While legal frameworks exist regionally, their implementation remains inconsistent, with strategies often delayed, underfunded, or fragmented. The regional outlook emphasizes the im-portance of cross-border cooperation, mutual aid, and harmonized standards in addressing shared risks and resource limitations.
Progressing toward high readiness requires a systematic fleet renewal, lifecycle maintenance, expanded accredited training, effective staff retention strategies, harmonized procedures, integrat-ed asset and incident registries, stronger volunteer integration, and a shift from donation-based procurement to sustainable, multi-year investments. Given shared vulnerabilities, pooling special-ized capacities, such as aerial firefighting and CBRN units, across borders and conducting joint ex-ercises is especially crucial. This study faced limitations due to the inconsistent and incomplete na-ture of the data. Expert judgment was used cautiously to ensure reliability; however, the results should be viewed as indicative. Future efforts should institutionalize regular R2R benchmarking, expand indicators to include response times and survival rates, and incorporate lessons from com-plex emergencies into doctrine, training, and investments.
The Western Balkans shows moderate preparedness, with notable strengths and systemic weaknesses. Without sustained, coordinated investments in personnel, equipment, governance, and data systems, progress will be uneven and dependent on the generosity of donors. Enhancing re-gional cooperation and aligning capacities with EU and NATO standards offer the best path toward a resilient future for first responders and the communities they serve.
How to cite
Cvetković, V. M. (2025). First responders in the Western Balkans: Strengthening Capacities and Preparedness for a Resilient Future. International Journal of Disaster Risk Management, 7(2), 361-384. https://doi.org/10.18485/ijdrm.2025.7.2.19
