Four years after the tragedy during an operation, the Union of Professional Firefighters of the Republic of Croatia seeks accountability for the death of a member of the Dubrovnik Fire Brigade, accusing those in charge of unprofessionalism and a cover-up.
The Union of Professional Firefighters of the Republic of Croatia has announced it will file a criminal complaint with the State Attorney's Office over failures in the management of the operation in which firefighter Goran Komlenac lost his life on July 31, 2022. Komlenac was a member of the Dubrovnik Fire Brigade and the Orašac Volunteer Fire Department.
In a statement released on Saturday, August 9, 2026, the Union said the complaint would be filed against those responsible, as well as over the work and content of the report by the Commission established to determine the circumstances of this tragedy.
The Union sharply criticizes the course of the investigation so far, stating that "Goran's death has been 'hanging in the air' for four years and has not reached a conclusion." They note that the Croatian Firefighting Association (HVZ) requested the formation of a Commission and launched an investigation, but that it has yielded nothing.
"After seeing the Commission's findings and the way the investigation was conducted, we gathered all available documentation and handed it to a law firm that will file the complaint with the State Attorney's Office," the Union of Professional Firefighters said.
The filing will ask the relevant institutions to examine failures in command and the management of the operation itself. The Union also questions the justification for appointing certain members of the investigative commission, claiming they had a conflict of interest.
A key objection concerns the content of the report. According to the Union, it lacks investigated elements and key moments that led to the tragedy, and most importantly, Goran Komlenac was forgotten during that operation.
In response to these allegations, Stjepko Krilanović, then commander of the Dubrovnik Fire Brigade, told Dubrovački dnevnik: "The Commission was supposed to establish all the facts."
Goran Komlenac lost his life while fighting an open-space fire in the Orašac – Gromača area. He was only 42 years old at the time of his death. According to available information, the Union's complaint particularly emphasizes the request to review the work of the commission itself, as they claim the report does not include investigated elements and key moments that led to the tragedy.
In an emotional appeal, the Union of Professional Firefighters draws a parallel with the Kornati tragedy, stressing that no lesson was learned from past mistakes.
"What hurts us firefighters most is that Goran, who was a colleague and friend to many of us, gave his life, and from that, those responsible and those who act as such have learned nothing, just as they clearly learned nothing after the Kornati tragedy. No one was held accountable for the failures, and nothing was done to prevent such tragedies in the future. Our job as firefighters is dangerous enough on its own that we cannot afford unprofessionalism at any level, especially at the command level," the Union said.
