Skopje, 16 August 2021 (MIA) – Since the first outbreak of wildfires in the country, so far there have been recorded a total of 106 large wildfires with the worst one affecting gravely the municipalities of Berovo, Pehchevo and partially Delchevo in eastern North Macedonia. It has been successfully put out. Some dozen facilities, mainly old houses and stables, burned down, Stojance Angelov, Director of the Crisis Management Center (CMC) said Monday. “The municipalities have set up committees to assess the damage and the affected citizens will be paid compensation. The government will also award compensation if necessary. At this point, we can conclude that material damage is small considering the scope of wildfires that gripped the country,” he told a news conference. Noting that public awareness about the threat of wildfires has increased, he thanked the police, fire brigades for their “sacrifice.” Angelov also thanked relevant authorities, including the Rescue and Protection Directorate, for helping coordinate efforts as well as foreign teams deployed to help put out the fires. Firefighting planes were sent by Serbia, Romania, Montenegro, while Austria, France, Slovenia and Bulgaria deployed firefighters and equipment. Currently, American instructors provide support to the main crisis management HQ. “These wildfires have pinpointed the shortcoming we were already aware of. However, this time, the Crisis Management Center and the Directorate are strongly committed to in-depth reforms to eliminate all shortcomings. We’ll set up a wide-ranging body tasked with these reforms. I believe in the coming months we’ll manage to lay the foundations of the new, centralized crisis management system,” Angelov stated. Also, he told the news conference that only two wildfires are active, one near the villages of Raovikj and Bukovikj in Skopje’s Saraj and the other in the vicinity of the villages Rakle – Nikodin – Toplica in Prilep.