Members of the Helicopter Service of Bosnia and Herzegovina. of the Republika Srpska entity on Sunday are trying to extinguish the fiery element on the Zelengora mountain, in the southeast of Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The fire spread near the Sutjeska National Park and so far 20,000 liters of water have been released, the director of the Helicopter Service, Boban Kusturić, told the entity news agency Srna.
Kusturić emphasized that members of the Helicopter Service managed to remove a significant amount of water, despite strong gusts of wind of 50 kilometers per hour and a high altitude of 1,500 meters, which significantly complicates the operation.
The director of the Helicopter Service stated that the call for help was received on Saturday, August 10, and that the Helicopter Service intervened in suppressing the fire in the area of Zelengora, more precisely on the slopes of the Sutjeska National Park, near Velika Siljevica.
According to him, the fire broke out in an inaccessible area of the mountain massif and covered an area of 15 to 20 hectares and spread from the Borić viewpoint towards Tjentište.
“Given the difficult conditions and the large area affected by the fire, firefighting methods from the ground were insufficient. The key element in suppressing the spread of the fire was the engagement of helicopters in the early stages of the fire. During yesterday’s operation, about 40,000 liters of water were released, which is was crucial in preventing the further spread of the fire towards coniferous forests,” Kusturić emphasized.
The director of the Entity Administration of Civil Protection, Boris Trninić, warned that a hundred-year-old conifer forest is burning in the Sutjeska National Park at the Tjentišta location.
He requested that the fire-fighting helicopter of the Helicopter Unit of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republic of Serbia be urgently engaged in order to help the Helicopter Service of the RS and the personnel engaged in the field.
State Minister of Trade and Economic Relations Staša Košarac also asked for help from Serbia, who said that the Council of Ministers should approve the engagement of a helicopter from the Ministry of the Interior of Serbia that will help extinguish the fire.
Firefighting units from Foča, workers of the “Sutjeska” National Park, and firefighters from Gack were present on the ground, and the coordination between air and ground teams went through the entity Civil Protection Administration.
Kusturić said that the action will be continued until it is ensured that all hot spots are completely extinguished and the possibility of fire breaking out again is prevented.
The Sutjeska National Park expressed their gratitude for the quick response and efficiency of everyone who engaged in the fight against the fire, which prevented more serious damage to the park’s ecosystem, RSE writes.
