Fire near Novo Selo declared intentional; suspects identified
Perpetrators who threw burning waste have been identified; multi-agency crews, including three aircraft, fought the flames.
Fire near Novo Selo was deliberate; suspects detained, authorities say
Yesterday at about 13:30 a blaze started at the landfill near Novo Selo and quickly spread into surrounding hills and woodland; police say those who threw burning waste have been identified and registered.
Large, multi-agency response and difficult conditions
The suppression effort involved three aircraft from the Directorate for Protection and Rescue, firefighters from TPPE Strumica (the Strumica fire unit), volunteers from DPD "RIS-OPERATIVCI" from Novo Selo, crews from the municipal utility company JKP "Komuna", municipal employees and a private firm that brought soil to the site with dump trucks.
Authorities from the Strumica Police Department are handling the criminal procedure in cooperation with responding services. Officials reported that the fire originated inside the landfill area and consumed adjacent vegetation, hills and parts of forest.
Firefighters said extinguishing operations were hampered by high temperatures, strong winds, dry vegetation and the large volumes of waste, factors that enabled the fire to spread rapidly. Overnight, three fire vehicles with eight firefighter-rescuers remained on the scene to continue firefighting work.
Local firefighters called on residents not to approach the burned area and to follow the instructions of teams working on site. According to the latest information from the Crisis Management Centre, the fire affected part of the landfill, mixed degraded forest and low vegetation.
Separately, firefighters from Kumanovo extinguished a blaze in Sredorek that burned for about two hours and also affected a sandwich shop.
Photo: ЦУК
