The helicopter of the Aviation Administration of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of the Republika Srpska (MUP RS) dropped about 50,000 liters of water on the fire near Trebinje in four hours and the spread of the fire was suppressed, said pilot Zoran Milić.
Milić said that the fire line is about two and a half kilometers long and has covered the entire northern side of Leotar, stating that they are fighting to extinguish the fire as much as they can.
He stated that due to the high air temperature and strong wind, they have to stop extinguishing now, but will continue around 6:00 p.m.
“We are being helped by firefighters from Trebinje, as well as the Civil Protection. We hope that with joint forces we will cope with the fire. We have a 36,000-liter water pool installed on the Trebinje hills, which greatly shortens the flight time from the pool to the fire site, the round trip takes about five minutes,” said Milić.
Milić told reporters that they arrived in the area late last night and began extinguishing the fire at the call of the Civil Protection and the Mayor of Trebinje Mirko Ćurić, and that they continued this morning.
“We made a rush and in more than four hours dumped more than 50 buckets of water, or about 50,000 liters. We managed to suppress the spread of the fire in two branches, the fire threatened nearby houses,” Milić said.
According to him, the terrain is very inaccessible, and strong winds and high temperatures are making it difficult to extinguish the fire.
The fire broke out yesterday afternoon in the village of Trebijova in Trebinje and spread towards Mount Leotar and the village of Aljetići, Srna news agency writes.
Photo: Srna
