Savnik: Fire Reaches Houses, Firefighters Save Them

Wildfires in Montenegro shifted overnight between September 7 and September 8 from the Niksic area to the Savnik region, at a time when large numbers of Serbian tourists are still traveling that stretch of the country, the usual route from Zabljak to Podgorica, spending the final days of the summer season in Montenegro’s mountains. The flames came within reach of family homes overnight, and by morning, according to a statement from the relevant services, every fire in the Savnik municipality had been brought under control. It marks a new phase of a crisis that a few days earlier had centered on Niksic as the worst hit area, where aircraft were sent in to fight the flames.

The fire burned along the Vojnik to Krusevice stretch, and thick smoke sharply cut visibility on parts of the road, endangering drivers passing through the area that morning. Savnik’s Protection and Rescue Service called in reinforcements from Podgorica, led by commander Nikola Bojanovic.

According to Bojanovic, the situation on the ground was critical when his teams arrived.

“On arrival, we found an extremely critical situation, the fire was bearing down on a large number of family homes and other outbuildings. Through a swift and decisive overnight operation, our firefighters and rescuers, with tremendous effort, managed to stop the fire from spreading, save the houses and bring the blaze under control,” said Bojanovic, commander of the Protection and Rescue Service of the Capital City of Podgorica.

He described the outcome of the overnight operation as complete: not a single residential or auxiliary building was lost. “Every residential and auxiliary building was saved. All fires have been brought under control,” Bojanovic said, adding that the Podgorica crews are staying in the Savnik municipality and will keep acting as the situation on the ground develops.

That account, however, does not fully match what a driver described the same day after passing through the Savnik area on his way back from Zabljak. He said that during the entire drive he did not see a single fire truck.

“What disturbs me most is that along the whole route I didn’t see a single fire truck, or any serious effort to bring the fire under control and prevent even greater damage,” the driver told Mondo.

By his account, the fire was still active in several places as he drove through. “Fire is burning everywhere. Huge blazes, and a large part of the area has already burned,” he said. The gap between the two accounts, the official version of a fire localized and contained, and the eyewitness account of firefighters nowhere in sight, shows just how quickly the situation on the ground was shifting from hour to hour that morning.

Montenegro’s Interior Ministry (MUP), meanwhile, released a broader update on the nationwide situation. According to the ministry, active fires were recorded the previous day in Podgorica, Cetinje, Niksic, Kolasin, Pluzine, Savnik and Pljevlja. Niksic’s Protection and Rescue Service requested aircraft at nine locations, including Bogetici, Milojevici, Vitasojevici, Paprati, Klenak, Praga, Golija and Brocanac.

Three types of aircraft assisted from the air. An Antonov plane owned by the Interior Ministry spent two and a half hours in the air and dropped 16 tons of water on the fires, while the same ministry’s Air Tractor planes flew 14 sorties and dropped a total of 42 tons. Montenegro’s army also deployed helicopters, which dropped 67 tons of water over six flights.

Montenegro is now facing fires on multiple fronts for an eighth straight day, while neighboring Serbia watches that part of the region both as a transit route for its own tourists and as a reminder that this summer’s drought has not passed without consequences for the wider Balkans.