Kochani, 4 August 2021 (MIA) – The wildfire at the Kostin Dol mountain village near Kochani has been partly contained, but not yet under control. More than a hundred members of the Army, firefighters, ‘National Forests’ public enterprise staff and local residents are still on the ground, joining efforts to prevent the spread of the fire towards the Cera village. Strong winds, inaccessible terrain and dry vegetation make it difficult to put the blaze under control, even after army helicopters have been engaged twice. “The fire has been contained at several places, but it is a problem to extinguish it on the north side due to the rough terrain. The main priority is to prevent the spread of the fire towards St. Simeon monastery and the Osogovo slopes towards the Cera village. For a third day now, people are on the ground, but despite their physical exhaustion, the intention is to bring the situation under control by the end of the day,” Kochani Mayor Nikolcho Ilijev said. At an emergency meeting of the municipal crisis headquarters, decisions were taken to strengthen coordination of people participating in the fire extinguishing operation, and ban movement of citizens in the forest belt, except those who have property in the area affected by the fire.