Skopje, 10 August 2021 (MIA) - Farming areas of over one hundred Macedonian villages suffered the consequences of the raging fires that have been burning through forests, barns, crops, houses, and animals. There is no place where the skies didn’t turn black from the smoke that relentlessly rises above the fire scorching the earth and engulfing all that is on it. North Macedonia has declared state of crisis as forces and resources are becoming exhausted and it’s all coming down to human factors, the reasons, the help, and the consequences. The Crisis Management Center (CMC) says the main culprits for the fires are people, causing fires on purpose and accidentally, throwing glass and other waste in dry vegetation, as well as wire sparks from electric transmission lines. “It doesn’t take much to start a fire, it only takes a small portion of the population to do something against what we’ve told them. In fact, it only takes one irresponsible man in the mountains leaving a cigarette butt or a fire that spreads with the wind,” the CMC says. The Fire Brigade of Skopje also says that, according to their long-term statistics, the most common fire-causing factor is negligence, i.e. the human factor. Negligence entails improper maintenance of electric networks throughout the cities as well, it told MIA. “The institutions should take care of the city infrastructure and the network that passes through farmland and forest areas, especially when there are meteorological conditions of strong winds, when the conductors create short circuits and cause fires,” added the Fire Brigade. The Ministry of Internal Affairs (MoI) has apprehended 11 people because of the fires, and one person has turned themselves in. Police are also investigating three additional suspects. According to Article 227 of the Criminal Code, causing forest fires, purposefully or accidentally, is a felony, which carries a prison sentence up to eight years depending on the kind of fire, and other circumstances and consequences. According to MoI data seen by MIA, in the past 12 months alone, 28 reports have been made, 26 were for felony “causing general danger” and two felonies “serious harm to general safety” that relate to cases of arson. CMC: Some brought bottles of juice or water for the firefighters, while others came to cause a sensation for their Facebook profiles According to Article 19 of the Law on Firefighting, any citizen that notices immediate danger of fire is obligated to remove the danger by putting out the fire if they can do so without putting themselves or others at risk. If the citizen cannot do so alone, they must immediately notify the nearest firefighting unit, police station, or ask for help from nearby people. Many people have selflessly helped in the fight against the fires. Locals have managed to localize parts of the smaller fires, and they contributed towards managing the larger ones with their presence, support and active involvement. The CMC says that, depending on the region, some people did get involved, others just asked for help and waited for intervention. The CMC has seen all sorts of examples, but they have noticed a sort of cohesion in moments where we must defend ourselves from the fires, in which the safety of people and animals comes first, then material goods, because those can be remade and bought again, but people are irreplaceable. “Some people brought bottles of juice and water for the firefighters, but there are some who just want Facebook clout,” the CMC told MIA. The prevention from and managing of fires depends, mostly, on the people’s conscience, as well as the speed of the response. The outcome, i.e. the successful extinguishing of fires and protecting the environment depends on the content and accuracy of the information. The CMC says that they are, overall, happy with the citizens, their response and calls with prevention suggestions in certain regions, as well as the many volunteers that responded in Kochani, Valandovo, Berovo, Pehchevo and anywhere else that had fires. The CMC adds that there are volunteers who offer to help, and the forces engaged by the field subjects use that help, but it’s all done carefully, because it’s one thing to want to help, it’s another to know how to help, so the professionals take primacy in extinguishing the fires, and the volunteers help. The Skopje Fire Brigade says that they notice carelessly discarded cigarette butts onto dry vegetation. They point out that they’ve seen a few spots in which the fires were set purposefully. “This was especially the case in Batinci, where during our intervention in one part of the area where tall-trunk woods were burning, during the redistribution of crews for a better setup, we found a new spot that was much farther from the existing fire, where the fire was set on purpose with cardboard boxes set under trees, that had been set on fire. Luckily, we saw them on time, we intervened and immediately reported it to the police,” the Skopje Fire Brigade says. They also say that there are cases of people wanting to clean their out-of-town farmlands, so they set them on fire, but stronger winds can cause the fire to get out of control and move into the forests. A ban hasn’t stopped people from going into forests In early July, the National Forests Public Enterprise instated a partial ban for movement in forests and forest land it has jurisdiction over throughout the whole country, from 6 AM to 8 PM, after having received consent from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Water Economy. Movement was only enabled via written permission given by the NFPE regional offices for the region over which they have jurisdiction. However, after the forest fires broke out on 2 August, a full ban was put in place the very next day. With this ban, the government appealed to all citizens not go into the forests in order to protect their personal safety and prevent further spread of the fires. Each breach of this ban is a criminal offence according to Article 106 of the Law on Forests. A monetary fine of EUR 1500-2000 is stipulated for such offences. Right before the end of last week, the MoI stated that they apprehended three people in Krushevo who were spotted in a civilian vehicle in a forest area, due to breaking the movement ban. On Aug. 5, they caught three people on Vodno, and appropriate action has been taken against them. The Forest Police data that MIA accessed showed that, since the ban was put in place in July 2021 until 3 August 2021, five criminal charges were submitted to courts for breaking the forest movement ban, but the basic courts have not yet brought verdicts. The CMC constantly appealed to the citizens to be careful when visiting open areas due to increased fire risk. They say they’ve appealed to certain groups, such as farmers who move and work in forests, then picnic-goers to be careful of how they dispose of cigarette butts, even if they’re in moving vehicles, because, despite it being punishable and simply rude, it should be kept in mind that even an extinguished cigarette butt is receiving lots of oxygen when launched out of a moving car, so the smallest ember can ignite and set dry grass near the highways ablaze and then spread farther to the fields or mountains. The Fire Brigade says that the many amendments to the law are, unfortunately, regressive even though they aim to be preventative in cases of fire. They also appeal for caution, for the installations to be maintained appropriately and for cigarette butts to be carefully disposed of. Hot weather acts as a matchstick for potential fires; it’s up to people’s awareness The seasonal outlook for the weather for summer 2021, according to the Macedonian Hydrometeorological Service, predicted that temperatures will reach above-average values. The possibility that North Macedonia would surpass the temperatures from the long-term average came true. The hot weather worked in the favor of the merciless fires that were also aided by the winds. The temperatures remained high for a while, and the wind spread the flames they caused. The high temperatures and the lack of rain and moisture increases the potential fire hazard. The predicted periods of extremely warm and dry weather, accompanied by human irresponsibility have taken their toll. There were fires in Zhivalevo, Tatomir, Konopnica, Robovo, Umlena, Chiflik, Gulinci, Zubovce, Vozarci and Machevo. Hundreds of places that most of us heard about for the first time due to the fires were set aflame, and the fires are still raging in some of them. After this catastrophe that has been raging relentlessly for days, these places we all just learned about will never be the same. Fires are one of the biggest problems for the environment. It follows that they destroy huge amounts of wood mass and vegetation, which also causes economic consequences. The fires don’t avoid fauna either, and they can often take the lives of people. They pollute the air, water and soil. The number of forest fires in North Macedonia reached its pinnacle in 2007, when 652 forest fires were registered. It’s up to us to prevent the surpassing of this number in 2021, and our responsibilities with prevention and aiding in the management of fires. Angela Rajchevska Translated by Dragana Knezhevikj