N. Macedonia fights a dozen wildfires after weeks of hot weather

STIP, North Macedonia (Reuters) – Firefighters in North Macedonia fought a dozen wildfires fanned by heavy winds for a third day on Wednesday, and hot temperatures and dry weather also fueled smaller blazes across Greece and the Balkans, officials said.

One fire was spreading in the municipality of Negrevo near the Bulgarian border and another around Kumanovo near Serbia, said Goran Stojanovski at North Macedonia’s centre for crisis management.

“Because of the high temperatures, the vegetation is dry and the soil is very hot, which is making our work more difficult,” he said.

North Macedonia’s southerly neighbour Greece has long struggled with wildfires caused by rising temperatures and sporadic rainfall that scientists link to climate change.

A series of blazes also started further north across the Balkans this week following weeks of heat and little rain. On the western side of mainland Europe, firefighters in Spain are also battling wildfires amid extreme heat.

Roads, fields and houses were covered with smoke near the central town of Stip, 100 kilometres (62 miles) east of North Macedonia’s capital Skopje, a Reuters witness said.

The extent of the damage nationwide is unclear. Fires earlier in the week burned dozens of homes and killed one elderly man.

Stojanovski said that out of 66 active fires on Tuesday, 12 were not yet under control on Wednesday. A helicopter came from Serbia to help while Germany and Czech Republic have offered to provide aircraft.

In neighbouring Albania, the coastal tourist town of Shengjin was evacuated on Tuesday as fires encroached, forcing some tourists to leave hastily in cars and buses. Fires were still burning there on Wednesday but appeared to be under control, a Reuters witness said.

In Croatia, firefighters contained a blaze near the coastal town of Tucepi, a local official told N1 TV.

At a mountainous stretch of the Greece-Bulgaria border, firefighters relied on air support to douse the flames of a fire that has been burning low-lying vegetation since July 18.

Ground forces cannot reach the area because of land mines from past conflicts, said Greek fire service spokesman Vassilis Vathrakogiannis.

Firefighters and local authorities have used diggers to build fire break zones around villages, he said.