Skopje, 12 August 2025 (MIA) - Head of the Protection and Rescue Directorate, Stojanche Angelov, said several wildfires are active across the country on Tuesday. The situation is most serious on the territory of Makedonski Brod Municipality, at the Jasen hunting ground, where despite continuing firefighting efforts the blazes cannot be fully contained for days. 

"This fire has been active for several days. Although it was brought under full control several times, and at times it was completely extinguished, due to the extremely inaccessible terrain, some of it reignited covering a larger area," Angelov said.

Three helicopters have joined in firefighting efforts – two from the Ministry of Interior and one from the Army, which have been operating since the early morning hours. Fifteen members of the Ministry of Interior special units and 26 members of the Army special units have been deployed on the ground, alongside teams of the Public Enterprise "Jasen" and several teams from the National Forests, in an attempt to contain the blazes.

Angelov added that a fire near the village of Krapa in Makedonski Brod is also active, close to the area where another fire had raged 20 days ago.  

"For the time being, it is a small fire, and I am optimistic that it will be put under control soon, and then extinguished. Firefighting efforts continue to put out a fire close to the village of Svilare near Skopje, where the Skopje fire brigade is on the ground with a fleet of two Pinzgauers from the Protection and Rescue Directorate," said Angelov, pointing out that there are currently no other major fires.

Photo: MIA archive / print screen