Skopje, 31 July 2024 (MIA) - We have enough firefighters and enough members of the Army and the Interior Ministry to deal with the fires, even though they are at a historical high. Only yesterday we had 66 active wildfires, we managed to successfully put out 40 of them. Considering the temperatures ahead, we will continue to fight these challenges in August as well. I don’t expect major changes, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski said on Wednesday.

“The Government that I am leading had its first workday on June 24. The first more serious fire on the Serta Mountain was on July 10, 17 days after my first workday. The helicopters used for such situations were undergoing repairs, the airplanes were grounded due to defects, while the pilots supposed to fly them were retired. We launched the fight against the flames thanks to the local self-government units, the municipalities, and people who were ready to help at that moment. Then the helicopters were put into use as well. We carried out technical interventions on the airplanes, making three of them operational. We brought back the people who flew them,” Mickoski said when asked to respond to opposition party SDSM’s criticism of the Government’s handling of the wildfires.

In the meantime, Mickoski said the Government declared a state of crisis and activated the EU Civil Protection Mechanism.

“When we activated that mechanism we received assistance from neighboring Serbia, Montenegro, Slovenia, Turkey, Romania, and we dealt with the fires in that first wave. Then the fight continued, but not only in our country, everywhere across Europe,” Mickoski added.

The PM stressed that a record high number of wildfires were registered on Tuesday – 66, and citing information from the Interior Ministry said there are suspicions that the fires are largely due to a lack of caution, while some might have been intentionally ignited.

Photo: Government