From the morning, a complete ban for movement in the forest areas is in force in North Macedonia and the Government pleads the citizens not to go into the forests – both for their own safety and to prevent any further wildfires.
The wildfire around the town of Kochani that ravaged last night has been localized and put under control. The fire is still active near the village of Trkanje, and there are firefighting teams on location to control the situation.
Throughout the country, there are several locations with active wildfires, but yesterday at Kochani and Staro Nagorichane the situation was the worst, because apart from many hectares of forest being burned down, several vehicles, houses and other property of the population was also burned down. At Staro Nagorichane a helicopter intervened, while in Kochani several firefighting teams from several cities and members of the army were sent to fight the wildfires together with the firefighting unit from Kochani and the local population.
The army was mobilized and the soldiers and an army helicopter are actively engaged in firefighting at Kochani, while 1 000 soldiers and another helicopter are at standby in the army bases. The soldiers actively helped in fighting the wildfire above Kochani, and from the morning there are also army units engaged in fighting the wildfire between the towns of Delchevo and Pehchevo.
Wildfires were also registered at Makedonski Brod and Valandovo, and a priority in extinguishing the fires at the moment will have the villages of Kostin Dol and Novoselani in Kochansko, including the forests near the village Pasjak located between the municipalities of Delchevo and Pehchevo.
Otherwise, for over one week, Macedonia has been under a prolonged heatwave with very high temperatures and no rain. The meteorologists have again forecast a strong western wind which will be especially strong in the country’s western parts. Until Thursday, the orange high temperatures warning will be active.
