Stolovi Fire: Super Puma Flies 68 Runs, Goc Also Burns
The Stolovi fire near Kraljevo is not contained on August 26, burning across roughly 200 hectares as the MUP's Super Puma helicopter flies 68 runs. A new fire broke out the same day on Mount Goc.
In brief
- The Stolovi fire near Kraljevo is burning across roughly 200 hectares and is still not contained on its third day.
- The Super Puma AIR BUS H2152 helicopter has flown 68 runs, and the AIR BUS H145 four more.
- On the ground are 35 firefighter-rescuers with 14 vehicles, along with volunteer brigades and Srbijasume.
- The same day, a new fire broke out on Mount Goc, at the Ljukten peak, where about six hectares of pine forest are burning.
The fire on the Stolovi mountain near Kraljevo was still not contained on Wednesday, August 26. The flames have so far spread across around 200 hectares of the Ibar Gorge, and extinguishing it still depends mostly on air power, since part of the fire zone is inaccessible to vehicles.
Helicopter units of the Interior Ministry (MUP) were also engaged on Monday. The Super Puma AIR BUS H2152 flew 68 runs, while the AIR BUS H145 flew four, said Kraljevo Mayor Predrag Terzic. He added that, as he put it, “during the night, a water pool for refueling helicopters was set up at another location,” giving air crews an additional source for refilling.
On the ground, according to Terzic, are the head of the Fire and Rescue Units Directorate along with a unit representative, members of the Fire and Rescue Brigade from Kraljevo, Uzice, Novi Pazar, Prijepolje and Cacak, a total of 35 firefighter-rescuers with 14 vehicles. Working alongside them are members of volunteer fire brigades, Srbijasume, the Search and Rescue Organization, and two vehicles from Kraljevo’s public utility company Vodovod.
Why the line toward town is hard to extinguish
The fire has been put out on three sides, while the fourth side, the one facing the town, is still active. Dragan Reljic, director of the forest management company in Kraljevo, explained to Tanjug what the problem is.
That line runs from the Ibar Valley, above Maglic Fortress, toward the part of Stolovi called ‘Ciker.’ Very inaccessible cliffs and terrain, so yesterday’s intervention came only from helicopter units.
Reljic was describing the terrain around the medieval Maglic Fortress, where vehicles cannot reach the fire, so extinguishing that part of the fire zone has at times depended solely on helicopter runs.
New fire breaks out on Goc
While the fight on Stolovi continues, a new fire broke out on Tuesday, August 25, around 12:10 PM, on Mount Goc, at the Ljukten peak, at about 1,200 meters above sea level, in mixed forest. The peak sits on the border between the city of Kraljevo and the municipality of Vrnjacka Banja, from where the thick smoke over Goc was most visible.
Twenty one firefighter-rescuers with eight vehicles were dispatched immediately. By Wednesday, August 26, around six hectares of pine forest had burned.
Thirty five fires burning across Serbia
According to data from August 26, 35 open-air fires are active across Serbia. Alongside domestic crews, foreign forces are also taking part, deployed through the European Union Civil Protection Mechanism: 69 firefighter-rescuers with 15 vehicles from Romania and 56 firefighters with 24 vehicles from Germany, along with helicopter crews from the Czech Republic, Romania and Slovakia.
A Russian Ilyushin Il-76 aircraft, with a capacity of 42 tons of water, is also taking part in the firefighting effort. Since being deployed, it has flown 22 runs over fire zones across Serbia and dropped a total of 924 tons of water.
Our newsroom previously reported on a visit to the fire zone in the Deliblato Sands, where the situation has since become somewhat more stable. At Stolovi near Kraljevo, according to the latest data, no buildings are endangered and there have been no casualties, but the fire line facing the town remains open as long as the terrain keeps vehicles from reaching it.
