Skopje, 14 August 2024 (MIA) - The head of the Crisis Management Center (CMC), Stojanche Angelov, calls on citizens to call the 112 emergency number or report it to the police if they see any arsonists or suspicious activities.

"I call on all citizens if they notice any suspicious activities, that is, a suspicious person who might be setting a fire or acting recklessly by burning stubble which can grow into wildfire, to call the 112 emergency number or the nearest police station. If you are uncomfortable or afraid with doing so, you can call a friend who is a police officer, forester, an employee at CMC, Protection and Rescue Directorate or National Forests public enterprise, to relay the information further," Angelov said on Wednesday.

He stated that the fight against arsonists must be aggressive, because prevention is the best solution and "when they are punished, they will be more careful."

"The fight against arsonists responsible for the large number of forest fires must be aggressive, we must retaliate fiercely because prevention is the best solution, and when those people are punished they will be more careful because there is no justification for such frivolous and reckless behavior, where some people naively believe that they will not cause a fire if they light only one stubble, and the fact that someone a few kilometers away can die is irrelevant. They believe it won't happen. I also call for additional legal amendments and harsher punishments of such acts that endanger human lives, cause great ecological and material damage, so that state and local resources will have to be wasted in dealing with the wildfires," Angelov stressed.

In the past 24 hours there were 38 active fires, of which 24 have been completely extinguished, 5 are under control, and 9 are still active- in Jasen municipality, Pehchevo, Kochani, both sides of Galichica Mountain, and villages Zajas, Vrben, and Novaci.

Angelov expressed gratitude to local firefighters who in the last 24 hours extinguished a total of 24 open fires, fires which, according to him, had the potential to turn into big forest fires.

He also advises greater caution, adding that setting fires to landfills or dry grass can quickly spread to the forests and endanger human lives. ssh/ba/

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