Skopje, 30 July 2024 (MIA) - A total of 46 wildfires were registered in the country in the past 24 hours. Twenty seven of them have been completely extinguished, 5 heavy fires are under control, and 10 are still active. There have also been a few arson cases, the head of the Crisis Management Center (CMC), Stojanche Angelov, said on Tuesday.

"Yesterday we detected electrical sparks as a cause for fires and immediately submitted a request to EVN to conduct a wire-tightening inspection, for which though we filed a similar request more than a month and a half ago. At this point, we have no evidence, but the Ministry of the Interior is working on the issue and I expect their forensic teams to come up with concrete data as to what caused the fires that broke out yesterday between approximately 11:30 am and 2:30 pm. In a matter of three hours about two dozen heavy fires raged due to the strong wind, and as a result we were unable to quickly establish control. Such fires pose a great danger to the villages and population, and unfortunately there was one casualty," Angelov said.

He noted that firefighters worked throughout the night with support of public communal enterprises, mechanization, and the local population, to put some of the fires under control.

According to Angelov there are active fires burning on the territory of Makedonski Brod Municipality, near the villages Tazhevo and Breznica, towards the Jasen National Park; on the territory of Kochani in the village Glavovica; on the territory of Prilep in the village Radobil; in Prilep near the village Dabnica, which has been active since yesterday afternoon.

Three air tractors of the Protection and Rescue Directorate are working on putting out the fire active in Sveti Nikole Municipality, near the villages Orel and Nemanjici, while three other air tractors are working on controlling the fire above the villages Erdzelija i Mustafino.

There is another active fire on the territory of Sveti Nikole Municipality, near the villages Makresh and Ranchenci, which has been active since this morning.

In Kumanovo a fire broke out yesterday afternoon near the villages K'shanje and Kokoshinje towards Mugrash.

Angelov asks all citizens who own cabins or houses in semi-abandoned or abandoned villages, to make a so-called soft belt around their houses, and farmers to stop burning fields and pastures, since it can be found to be a murder attempt. ssh/ba/

MIA file photo