Helicopters Defend Trebinje as Montenegro Fires Spread
Bosnian army helicopters keep dousing the Trebinje fire, while the Cazin blaze is out. Montenegro now has seven active fires, worst in Jasenovo Polje near Niksic.
Helicopters of the Armed Forces of Bosnia and Herzegovina continued fighting a fire on hard to reach terrain near Trebinje again this morning, August 25, while the front near Cazin was extinguished after an operation that ran all day Monday. For readers in Serbia, this follows yesterday’s report on six active fires in Republika Srpska, with the toughest situation right around Trebinje. The fire line has not retreated since then, and Montenegro is burning in parallel, where the number of affected municipalities rose to seven today.
Trebinje Under Control, Cazin Extinguished
A UH-1H-II helicopter from the 1st Helicopter Squadron of the Air Force and Air Defense Brigade of the Bosnian Armed Forces dropped 41,000 liters of water on the Trebinje fire during four hours of flying on Monday. This morning the crew continued the operation in two runs: 29 water drops were made between 5:30 and 7:30 a.m., and another 24 between 8:15 and 10:15 a.m. Each drop carries about 1,000 liters, meaning this morning’s intervention added roughly fifty more tons of water to the fire. The figures were released by the Public Relations Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina’s Ministry of Defense (MoD), which assessed that the Trebinje fire is currently under control, though continued aerial firefighting is expected into the afternoon given the length of the fire line.
The situation near Cazin is better. The 2nd Helicopter Squadron flew as many as 100 runs on Monday and dropped 100,000 liters of water, after which the fire was fully extinguished, and no further flights were needed in that area today. Meanwhile, the Interior Ministry of Una-Sana Canton has opened an investigation into the cause of the fire in the Krajina region, while rain helped stabilize the blaze on nearby Pljesevica, even though air support from the army had been requested there as well.
Seven Municipalities Burning in Montenegro
While the situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina eases, Montenegro has seven active fires today: in Podgorica, Herceg Novi, Danilovgrad, Kolasin, Cetinje, Niksic and Pljevlja. The most critical spot is Jasenovo Polje near Niksic, where the fire has come close to houses.
“In Jasenovo Polje some houses are even under threat. Firefighters and residents were on duty overnight and managed to defend them, for now,” said Aleksandra Lakic of the Operational Communications Center of Montenegro’s Police Directorate.
Speaking to the RTCG portal, she also listed the other hotspots: Momce in Kuci near Podgorica, Djenovici near Herceg Novi, Ponikvice near Danilovgrad, the Crni Vrh, Maganik and Uvac sites near Kolasin, Bijele Poljane in Cetinje, and Krstac next to Jasenovo Polje. According to her, the fire near the Bobovo hamlet on Vranovina in the municipality of Pljevlja has been contained on the Montenegrin side, while firefighters remain deployed on the bordering Bosnian side because the terrain is still smoldering.
Fires Also Burning in North Macedonia and Croatia
The region is burning well beyond these two countries. North Macedonia has recorded 21 forest fires, of which seven are still active, two are under control and 12 have been fully extinguished, according to the latest report from local authorities. In Croatia, fire is burning in Konavle, south of Dubrovnik, and has crossed the border to reach an apiary near Ljubuski, where 43 bee colonies were destroyed.
For now, none of the five countries is signaling that the danger has passed. Bosnia’s Ministry of Defense says helicopters will remain airborne over Trebinje into the afternoon, while Montenegrin police are counting on the night shift of firefighters and residents, as on the previous night, to defend the houses in Jasenovo Polje once again.
