Fire nears houses in Zelenikovo — residents, mayor and volunteers stop blaze

Shortly after midnight, a fast-moving wildfire threatened the outermost homes above the village of Zelenikovo; residents, the mayor and volunteer firefighters managed to stop the flames before houses were lost, the director of the national protection and rescue service said.

Stojanche Angelov, Director of the Directorate for Protection and Rescue, told reporters he received a panicked phone call from a resident whose house was in the final row on the hill above Zelenikovo.

"Last night at around 2 a.m. a woman called me with a highly agitated voice. She first introduced herself and then, in panic and shouting, told me that the fire was approaching her house, which is in the last row on the hill above Zelenikovo, and she was frantically asking for help."

The first responding crews and neighbours contained the blaze

Angelov said he immediately contacted the on-duty Skopje firefighter unit; their vehicle from the Dracevo station left at once. He himself diverted from the road through the Jasen hunting area while returning from Makedonski Brod, where crews had been finishing work on another difficult blaze on steep, rocky terrain.

"Half an hour later we arrived at the critical site." Meanwhile the mayor of Zelenikovo, Kosta Manevski, had started the municipal fire truck he had acquired some time ago and drove it straight to the houses. Volunteers from the village's firefighting unit joined him on arrival.

Residents helped too: they created partial protection in front of several properties by spraying water and cutting critical bushes and trees. Together with the mayor, volunteers and the arriving Skopje firefighters — whose vehicle reached the scene quickly — they managed to stop the fire before it reached the first houses.

Angelov said he was particularly grateful to the volunteer firefighters from Zelenikovo and announced that he had arranged for them to join the Directorate's rapid-response teams. "With them I agreed to bring them into the Directorate's Rapid Response Teams and as a sign of support for volunteer firefighting I offered for the Directorate to provide them with protective uniforms, fire backpacks and brooms for their future Fire Team in the Directorate for Protection and Rescue. Thanks also to the Skopje firefighters whose vehicle arrived very quickly. Together they brought an end to this fire that could have destroyed several houses. In the end, for who knows how many times now, please, be careful! It takes only one spark for a true catastrophe!" he emphasized.

Photo: press material from the event