Suva Planina Fire Reaches Kraljev Put on Day Eight
The wildfire on Suva Planina has been burning for eight days. Flames have moved down from the inaccessible peaks to Kraljev Put, where firefighters can finally reach them.
The wildfire on Suva Planina has been burning for an eighth consecutive day since it broke out on September 4 in the forest above the villages of Veta and Kosmovac, near Bela Palanka. Unlike previous days, the fire is now closer to areas firefighters can reach directly, brigade commander Marko Radovanovic of the Nis Fire and Rescue Brigade told the Beta news agency.
According to Radovanovic, the fire has slowly moved down from the peaks of Suva Planina to Kraljev Put. There, brigade members, volunteer firefighting units and employees of the state forestry company Srbijasume are working to put it out. The brigade, like all professional firefighting units in Serbia, operates under the Sector for Emergency Management of the Interior Ministry.
Kraljev Put runs from Bojanine Vode to Kosmovac and, as Radovanovic explained, cuts across the mountain in an almost horizontal line. That makes it more accessible than the ridge itself, where firefighting has so far been difficult and dangerous. Bojanine Vode is a well known excursion spot and mountain lodge on Suva Planina, while Kosmovac and Veta are villages in the Bela Palanka municipality, above which the fire first broke out.
Why fighting the fire on the ridge is dangerous
Until now, while the fire was burning only on the peaks, firefighters could not approach it at all. Since it reached Kraljev Put, that has changed, and crews can for the first time act directly on part of the fire line.
According to Radovanovic, crews have first been deployed where the terrain is accessible, right along Kraljev Put.
“Crews are deployed there and are fighting the fire there. It’s not safe to fight it on inaccessible terrain, because beech trees and burning rocks fall and someone could get hurt,” Radovanovic said.
The commander also described what the fire itself looks like. According to him, the flames have not reached the treetops, and what is burning is the ground layer of dry leaves, dry branches and grass.
“It hasn’t reached the treetops, the beech trees aren’t burning, what’s burning is dry leaves, dry branches and dry grass,” Radovanovic told Niske Vesti.
The fire has also spread to part of Suva Planina below the Mosor peak, on the side of the Gadzin Han municipality. Radovanovic said that part of the fire does not threaten the village of Jaglicje and was expected to be brought under control during the day.
Eight days of firefighting: a timeline
The fire broke out on September 4 in the forest above Veta and Kosmovac and, driven by drought and strong wind, quickly spread across the entire mountain range. Suva Planina stretches 45 kilometers in length and 15 kilometers in width, so fighting a fire across such an area takes days rather than hours.
On the seventh day of firefighting, September 10, crews worked without air support, as we reported in “Suva Planina, Day Seven: No Aerial Firefighting Today.” On the eighth day, today, the fire reached terrain firefighters can approach directly for the first time, along Kraljev Put. Conditions on the ground have not changed significantly in the meantime, with drought and wind still hampering firefighting across the ridge.
The sources we reviewed for today still make no mention of aerial firefighting. On the eighth day too, according to available information, no helicopters or aircraft are operating on the ground, only ground crews.
The news was also reported the same morning by other outlets, including Nedeljnik, Danas, Insajder and Nova.
N1 published the report on the eighth day of the fire on September 11 at 9:12 a.m., originally citing Niske Vesti, which in turn cited commander Radovanovic’s statement.
