CMC’s Angelov: Over 500 dispatched to put out Budinarci wildfire
Skopje, 10 August 2021 (MIA) - More than 500 people have been dispatched to put out the wildfire in Budinarci village, Berovo, eastern North Macedonia, Crisis Management Center Director Stojanche Angelov said Tuesday.
Of those, 130 are firemen from Austria with 52 vehicles, 45 firemen from Slovenia and four firefighting vehicles and 25 firemen from Bulgaria with five vehicles. “In addition, there are also over 100 local firemen and more than 130 policemen as well as soldiers and staff of the national forestry company,” Angelov told a news conference.
“We’ve been completely using the resources of the international assistance. We know exactly how many people from all of the units and services are deployed at any moment as well as what is their role,” he stated.
Angelov told reporters that a controlled fire was started overlooking Budinarci yesterday afternoon so as to limit the area where the fire might spread.
On Monday, he said, there were 14 active wildfires. “At the moment, there are four and we hope at least one of them will be fully extinguished, and that is the Budinarci fire,” Angelov said dismissing accusations from the opposition party VMRO-DPMNE that he has been mismanaging the outbreak of wildfires in different parts of the country.
Firefighting teams from North Macedonia, Austria, Slovenia and Bulgaria have been applying well-established methods, according to Ilija Bojarovski of the Crisis Management Center.
“We have to thank local residents, who have joined firefighting efforts on their own, but I must stress that they must act in connection with the professionals dispatched on the ground,” he said.