Volunteer crews stopped wildfire near Bonche before it reached the village
Volunteer crews from Bitola and Kochani, aided by Prilep’s Territorial Fire Brigade and locals, stopped flames that threatened Bonche after an unusually aggressive early-morning blaze.
Volunteer firefighting teams from Bitola and Kochani, supported by local residents and the Territorial Fire Brigade of Prilep, stopped a fast-moving wildfire before it reached the village of Bonche in the Prilep municipality early this morning.
Rapid, coordinated response stopped the blaze
Stojanche Angelov, director of the Directorate for Protection and Rescue, published video calls with the crews and said the village was saved thanks to timely, preventive deployment of volunteers across the threatened line.
DPD Bitola firefighters described the fire as unusually aggressive for that hour. "There are people who have been extinguishing fires for 20 years, but what we saw at 5 a.m. we have not seen before. The fire moved very fast, with tongues of flame between 3 and 4 meters high and a strong wind that constantly changed direction. We chased the fire, and the smoke was so thick that we had to bend low to the ground to see the flame. During extinguishing we necessarily wore gas masks," said a representative of DPD Bitola known as Chento.
Volunteers also deployed a specialised firefighting vehicle from DPD Kochani that had to operate on extremely risky terrain; firefighters at times extinguished flames directly under the truck's wheels. Local residents helped by guiding crews along forest tracks.
An ambulance team also attended the scene. Dr. Emilija told Angelov that no serious injuries were recorded; one person was briefly admitted to hospital for mild smoke inhalation and was released the same day and returned to the village.
"We saved the village by a hair. At one point the fire rose over 20 meters in height and jumped every 10 meters, but we managed to join the fires and prevent a catastrophe," said volunteers Blagojche Gjorgiovski and Mihaela Siljanoska. Angelov expressed deep gratitude to roughly 60 volunteers who have been on active duty with DPR teams across the country this summer and said the state will continue investing in the development of voluntary firefighting.
Most of the fire near Bonche has been extinguished and brought under control. In the afternoon one flank briefly rekindled but was quickly put out by the teams on site.
Photo: press material from the event
