RHMZ Warns: Extreme Wildfire Danger Across Serbia
Wildfire risk is extreme, the drought continues, and the Danube, Sava and Tisa have dropped below navigable levels. Here is what the RHMZ warning means if you have a field or a cottage.
Can you burn mowed grass or branches in your yard this weekend? You can’t, and not because it’s bad manners. On September 2, Serbia’s Republic Hydrometeorological Institute (RHMZ) issued a warning that extreme conditions for wildfires to start and spread are present outdoors. The warning was still posted on the institute’s website on September 3, runs through September 10, and comes alongside two more active warnings: one on agricultural drought and one on low water levels on three major rivers.
Why the danger is extreme right now
So far we’ve written about the heat as a nuisance, about an orange alert for high temperatures. This is something else. RHMZ says three factors are now lining up at once: high temperatures, a lack of rainfall and occasionally strong wind. That combination dries out the soil and low vegetation to the point where a small spark, a cigarette butt, an ember from a barbecue, a spark from a lawnmower, can quickly grow into a fire that spreads fast in the wind.
“High temperatures accompanied by a rainfall deficit and occasionally strong wind will continue to dry out vegetation and create a pronounced danger of wildfires starting and spreading outdoors,” RHMZ said in its warning issued on September 2.
According to the institute’s forecast, the unfavorable situation will last until the end of the first ten days of September. Temperatures are holding between 30 and 35 degrees Celsius, and on Saturday, September 5, and Wednesday, September 9, they could locally reach as high as 37. We’ve already reported that the heat wave of up to 37 degrees lasts through September 7, and that now ties directly into the wildfire warning: the same heat making the beach uncomfortable is what’s drying out the grass along the road.
For today, September 3, the institute forecasts a morning temperature of 12 to 19 degrees and a daily high of 30 to 33, with light to moderate north and northwest wind that picks up occasionally in mountain areas in the afternoon. If you’ve seen a forecast claiming today will reach as high as 35 degrees, that figure covers the weekend together with today. The forecast for today alone stays at 30 to 33.
What’s happening with the rivers and the fields
This isn’t just a story about fire. Along with the wildfire warning, RHMZ also issued a hydrological warning: water levels on the Danube, the Sava and the Tisa near Titel will run below the low navigable levels in the coming days. The same warning also names smaller waterways, the Kolubara, the Jadar, the Toplica and the Vlasina, tributaries of the West and Great Morava, as well as the Black and White Timok, where flow rates are close to their minimum monthly averages.
“On the Danube, the Sava and the Tisa near Titel, water levels will run below the low navigable levels in the coming days,” the hydrological warning states.
For farmers, the third document matters most: the agrometeorological warning on drought. One thing needs correcting here, since it got lost along the way: the drought warning wasn’t issued on the same day as the wildfire warning. The institute published it on August 31, three days earlier, valid through September 7, and it’s still in effect while the wildfire warning, dated September 2, is just getting started. Two separate decisions, not one.
“The prolonged duration of the drought, combined with high temperatures, has caused continuous water and heat stress in agricultural crops,” RHMZ states in its agrometeorological warning.
According to the institute, the consequences are already visible in the field: in many areas, intense stress has forced crops into an early end to their growing cycle, meaning lower grain mass and lower yields for field crops. If the drought continues, it will also make it harder to prepare the soil for planting winter crops.
What to actually do if you have a yard, a field or a riverside cottage
This applies above all to cottage owners in Srem and Vojvodina, to families with a yard in the countryside, and to farmers with plots next to dry stubble, in other words to anyone with dry grass within reach:
- Don’t burn grass, branches or plant waste outdoors, whether in your yard or in a field, while the warning is in effect
- Don’t toss a cigarette butt outside, whether from a car or on a walk, dry grass turns it into a fire within minutes
- Don’t leave a fire unattended, put out barbecues and campfires completely, don’t let them smolder
- For farmers: extra caution around fires starting and spreading on dried out plots, especially when burning stubble, which RHMZ does not recommend under these conditions
- If you spot a fire, call 193 immediately
There’s no relief from the heat in sight on the weather front before the second ten days of September. Brief rain is mentioned here and there in Vojvodina on Saturday, September 5, in the southwest and south on Wednesday, September 9, and only on Thursday, September 10, do thunderstorms arrive in the rest of the country as well. Until then, all three RHMZ warnings stay in effect together, and all three say the same thing: the ground is dry, the air is hot, and this isn’t the moment for anyone to give fire a hand.
