Firefighters battle wildfires throughout central and southern Dalmatia

Following the massive wildfire in Omiš, firefighters from throughout the country and all available resources are working to extinguish a number of wildfires burning throughout Dalmatia, including new blazes in southern Dalmatia and Zadar County.

Firefighters are battling two wildfires in Zadar County on Saturday. Strong winds reignited a wildfire on the Island of Dugi Otok at around noon. Initially firefighters had localized the blaze at around 8 AM on Monday morning. Simultaneously, a new wildfire near the town of Galovac broke out today. Zadar County Fire Chief Matej Rudić: "Currently we have two active fires in Zadar County, one in the Galovac - Prkos area. We have ground forces, two water bombers and one fire boss on the scene. This is not the fire that was localized this morning; this is a completely new blaze. Residential buildings are not under threat, but the area of the fire is quite big, and we're working to localize the fire as soon as possible. As for the fire on Dugi Otok, it reignited in two separate locations, at the tops of two hills. The terrain is inaccessible, winds are high and the vegetation is very dry, so the fire is moving very quickly. Our forces were initially overwhelmed, but we requested aerial support from water bombers and a fire boss, and the situation is much better now. It hasn't been localized yet, but we will stop its spread quickly."

The massive wildfire in the Omiš area that claimed one life and injured dozens more has been extinguished with the exception of some small pockets of fire in the mountainous terrain behind the city. The commander of the Omiš Fire Department, Višeslav Pešić: "We're trying to get water and other necessities out to people, so we can at least make that part easier for them. I think there are some 150 workers from the electric utility working on restoring electricity to households. The only thing that remains is the Omiš massif, where the fire is still burning, but that's being done by aerial units, as the terrain is inaccessible for us on foot."

The fire consumed more than one thousand hectares of land and destroyed houses, cars and boats. Local restaurants have opened their doors to everyone in need of food, while offers for emergency housing have also been made. Additionally, people from other parts of the country have arrived to help those in need.

Prime Minister Andrej Plenković announced today that government will make a decision on providing financial support to Omiš and the surrounding area once the extent of the damage caused by the fire has been assessed. The initial estimate is that the damage is massive, as the fire consumed residential houses, outbuildings, cars and olive groves.

The fire that broke out on the Pelješac peninsula yesterday has been contained and aerial support has been brought in to help extinguish the remaining active areas on inaccessible terrain at higher elevations. Dubrovnik-Neretva County Fire Chief, Stjepan Simović: "Thank God the blaze did not spread anymore last night and this morning, especially to the southern slopes, where the Dingač winery is, because that terrain is truly inaccessible. The aerial support and or eastern and western teams should meet within the next couple of hours, and I'm hoping that the fire will localized and we can rest easy. This effort will last at least another couple of day, because on an area this big in a pine forest, we have to monitor the area constantly. So we'll be here for at least for another three days."

Meanwhile, the fire that has been burning on the Dinarides in neighboring Bosnia and Herzegovina for the past four days has crossed over into Croatia. Two water bombers have been called in to aid firefighters given that the terrain is very inaccessible. They have been joined by 25 members of the Croatian army, in a bid to stop the fire from spreading towards Knin.

In spite of the increased number of wildfires this summer, the president of the Coordination for the Homeland Security System, Deputy Prime Minister and Veteran's Affairs minister Tomo Medved, maintains that Croatia's system for combating wildfires is very effective: "Let me remind you that over the past ten years we have invested almost €800 million into that system, and that we raised the material rights of those in the system to a higher level, and obviously the same is true for equipment, as in this year alone we have acquired 78 new vehicles."

Wildfires are burning throughout Europe. Great Britain, Germany, Italy, France, Greece and Portugal, are still battling active forest fires, which have resulted in thousands of people being evacuated. In southwestern Spain, hundreds of firefighters are battling a blaze that has been raging in the province of Huelva for days. A wildfire has also erupted in Belgium's largest nature reserve. Local firefighters, farmers and the army are trying to contain the fire, which has consumed about 1 600 hectares of land. This is the largest wildfire in Belgium to date. Planes from the Czech Republic, Sweden and the Netherlands have been sent to help.

Source: HRT