site.btaEU Helps North Macedonia Tackle Wildfires under EU Civil Protection Mechanism

There are three active fires in the Republic of North Macedonia on Wednesday, according to the Crisis Management Centre. The most severe fire, the one in the Goten and Maleshevo Mountains, where low-growing forest, spruce, and shrubs are burning, has been sent a helicopter from Czechia, which arrived through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

Citing the Czech Embassy in Skopje, North Macedonia's state news agency MIA reports that the helicopter is equipped with water bombs with a capacity of 3,410 litres, which allows for effective firefighting from the air.

Eighteen fire trucks and over 60 firefighters from Slovenia have also arrived, according to media reports in North Macedonia.

Fires continue to burn in two places in Prilep Municipality, where firefighters are powerless due to the ongoing detonations of ammunition, as the fire has spread to the front line of World War I. Part of it is spreading towards the border with Greece.

The prosecution service announced that an investigation has been launched into a man from Strumica who threatened another person on social media that he would set fire to their villa and then allegedly attempted to carry out his threat. In doing so, he endangered not only the villa but also other buildings and the forest in the immediate vicinity.

The Interior Ministry reported that another man from Skopje was arrested, after he allegedly set fire to dry grass and a landfill near the Skopje-Tetovo highway.

The opposition party SDSM released a statement that fires in 2024 affected an area of 95,181 hectares in North Macedonia, which is eight times more than the average for the last 17 years. According to SDSM, more than 20% of the total area of forests and pastures in the country has burned down.