VARIOUS: Forests in the Balkans are ravaged by flames due to record-high temperatures
- 00:00:07
- ITN Source
VARIOUS: Forests in the Balkans are ravaged by flames due to record-high temperatures
Fire-fighters, soldiers and volunteers battled wildfires across the Balkans on Tuesday (July 24) as a persistent heatwave broke temperature records. Forests in Bosnia, Serbia and Croatia have been ravaged by flames, blamed on record-high temperatures after the dry winter. A forest fire broke out early morning in the dense pine forest of Jelinjak Hill, overlooking Primosten, in the central part of the Croatian Adriatic coast on Tuesday (July 24). High winds caused it to spread quickly to nearby camping grounds and threatened houses in the villages of Sparadici and Bilo. "My husband was sleeping on the terrace when the fire broke out. It came near the house. Down below there was a German couple with two small children. A tragedy," said a female Polish tourist. Sibenik firefighters have battled to save houses in Bilo after villagers and tourists were evacuated. Houses by the sea were saved by a firefighting aircraft. Bosnia has been hard hit with more than twenty fires registered across the country. Firefighters battled a small outbreak near the popular ski resort of Babanovac, on the Vlasic mountain. But, the worst hit areas were the towns of Citluk, the Adriatic port of Neum and the mountain town of Visegrad which have declared a state of emergency. Serbia battled 50 forest fires on what meteorologists predicted would be the hottest day of the year, with the temperature topping 43 degrees Celsius. There were partial blackouts and 18 fires burning in Serbia's Kosovo province. Police, forestry officials and soldiers from the resident NATO-led peacekeeping force KFOR battled flames. Forty-three percent of Kosovo territory is covered by woods. The heatwave has claimed the lives of 30 people in Romania with temperatures in some part of the country soaring to an all-time record of over 44 degrees Celsius (111.2 Fahrenheit.) and with some 19,000 people admitted to hospitals.
ITN Source | July 25, 2007
