There is a  shortage of 340 firefighters in the country, while the vehicles they use are in average 27 years old. The situation is similar with the ambulances, of which Macedonia has 263, with an average age of 12 years, and only 30 of the acquired vehicles were bought new, the rest are provided as used vehicles.

These are the results of the study of data bases of all fire engines and ambulances, as well as the number of firefighters in 34 units around the country, conducted by the Center for Civic Communications (CCC).

The results reveal that there are less firefighters than legally allowed in 16 of the 34 units in Macedonia.

The 34 units have a total of 284 vehicles of all types. Half of them are older than 30 years, while only 10% of the vehicles are less than 10 years old. Through the last three years, 65  vehicles were acquired, but they are all close to 17 years old. The oldest fire engine is a TAM truck, produced in 1966. There are four other only one year younger.

The key findings of the study of ambulances and other medical vehicles reveal that there is a total of 263 such vehicles in the country.  They are mostly old, but not as much as the fire engines. Up to 73% of all ambulances and sanitary vehicles are borrowed or a donation. Only about 22% of the vehicles were purchased by the health institutions, with their own finances.

A comparison with a similar study conducted in 2019 shows that there 80 ambulances more in the country, but only 30 are new, the others are purchased as used vehicles.

The study was prepared within the project Monitoring of Public Acquisitions, conducted by the CCC, and financially supported by the Foundation Open Society – Macedonia.