This year will be remembered for the catastrophic fires worldwide, as well as those that ravaged several mountains in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). As a result, investing in firefighting equipment has become a top priority for many cities.
In this field, BiH has its assets, produced by the company SU-AD in Zivinice. According to the owner, Suad Beslic, demand for fire trucks has increased.
“Demand has increased, but our local communities are limited by funds. Along with restoring old vehicles, we produce new ones with new equipment, but unfortunately, there are few municipalities or cities that can allocate nearly half a million BAM for a vehicle,” says Beslic.
Workers in Zivinice initially performed service jobs for European companies, but since 2020, SU-AD has been exporting independently.
“Since 2020, we’ve been producing 100 percent our own product. We already have dozens of vehicles delivered to municipalities, cities, and businesses in BiH, and today one vehicle will be delivered to the Protection and Rescue Service of Herceg Novi in neighboring Montenegro. This is the first vehicle to go outside the borders of BiH,” Beslic emphasizes.
Besides this BiH company, only the German company “Lentner” in Europe uses this higher-quality production method, following German standards, and thus the warranty on BiH fire trucks is 20 years.
Why he returned
Behind the business success of the Zivinice company is the interesting life story of its owner, Suad Beslic, who was evacuated to Germany for treatment as a wounded person from BiH in 1994. After recovering, he worked as a driver while studying, eventually becoming the first innovator at the “Lentner” company near Munich.
“When I reached a peak, for example, one weekend the newspapers were writing about Hasan Salihamidzic and the next about me, I decided to return home. I said, ‘I’m going to help my country,’” Beslic shared, Avaz writes.
