Bukovo landfill reignites; Krushje residents choke on smoke
Firefighting teams and municipal crews say they have localised the blaze; authorities repeat plan to close Bukovo after regional centre in Novaci opens by end of 2027.
The Bukovo landfill near Ohrid caught fire again overnight, sending thick smoke over neighbouring villages and forcing residents to keep windows shut amid the summer heat.
Fire crews work to snuff out hotspots
Local firefighters and municipal crews remained on site for hours, digging into waste layers and covering smouldering areas with earth to prevent the blaze from spreading. The village of Krushje, closest to the dump, reported the heaviest smoke and a persistent smell of burning plastic.
Officials say the response included teams from the Public Enterprise Komunalec, members of the Territorial Firefighting Unit of Ohrid and a water cistern from the municipal company. Authorities described the operation as focused on isolating and suppressing hotspots beneath the waste.
“A trench was cut at the landfill to stop the fire from spreading to other parts of the site. Additional quantities of soil are being brought continuously to cover and smother the hot spots, depending on conditions on the ground and intervention needs. In this way, extra measures are taken to fully extinguish the fire and prevent its re-ignition. Teams remain on site to monitor the situation and react in time.” — Komunalec of Ohrid.
Residents say nights without sleep have become routine when the landfill flares up, and activists who for years have campaigned for preventive maintenance and the full closure of Bukovo insist that repeated blazes are the direct consequence of improper waste handling.
Dragana Karashova, an activist with the group "Zbogum Bukovo," urged faster action from the authorities and repeated calls for relocation of waste processing from the area.
Officials have pointed to the planned regional waste centre in Novaci as the long-term solution. According to the latest information released by the authorities, the project is proceeding on schedule and the problematic landfills in the Southwestern region, including Bukovo, are expected to be closed by the end of 2027.
Photo: press material from the event
