At least one person was killed and around 40 others were injured as a result of a major wildfire that engulfed towns on Croatia’s coast on Thursday evening and Friday morning, UNN reports, citing the BBC.
Details
The fire broke out near the village of Lokva Rogoznica on Thursday evening and quickly spread toward the nearby tourist town of Omiš, 6 km away.
Around 1,200 residents and tourists were evacuated, while 10 people are in intensive care in hospital, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković said. Croatia’s fire chief, Slavko Tucaković, called it "one of the worst" fires in the country’s history.
Croatia is one of several European countries affected by devastating wildfires following a summer of extreme heat and drought.
This June and July have been the hottest in Western Europe since records began10.08.26, 14:01
Villages near the Adriatic city of Split were affected by flames that swept across a hillside lined with pine forest, causing significant damage to homes and cars.
Tucaković said the firestorm had burned "everything in its path", as officials confirmed that flames fanned by strong winds had engulfed 1,000 hectares in just four hours.
More than 300 firefighters were deployed on Thursday night, and crews were sometimes forced to retreat as the fire advanced.
Some people were forced to jump into the sea from boats to escape the fire.
Shelters were opened in several towns along the coast, while the evacuation continued throughout the night.
On Friday, officials confirmed that a body had been found in the burned area, while emergency services continued searching the affected zones.
Later on Friday, Croatian Prime Minister Andrej Plenković visited the affected area, where he praised the work of the rescuers. The fire spread "with lightning speed" and amid "gale-force winds", he told reporters, adding that what the firefighters had managed to save was "a real miracle".
The commander of the Omiš volunteer fire brigade, Višeslav Pešić, told Reuters that the flames were so intense that people abandoned their vehicles "right in the fire zone", making it difficult for rescuers to pass through.
According to Index.hr, a major fire also broke out on Croatia’s Dugi Otok island the previous day; it spread rapidly because of strong winds and engulfed hard-to-reach terrain covered with dense undergrowth.
In some places, the fire even reached the road, and these dramatic scenes were filmed by firefighters and local residents.
Firefighters battled the blaze throughout the night and actively protected homes and cottages scattered around the bays. The fire had still not been brought under control by morning, while efforts to extinguish it were further complicated by the steep, inaccessible terrain and dense vegetation.
Update
Firefighters across Europe are facing immense pressure and strain on resources as major wildfires continue to rage across the continent, fuelled by extreme heat.
In the town of Agios Vasileios in Greece, more than 200 people were evacuated by boat from a beach resort as wildfires raged across the country, while more than 500 residents were forced to leave their homes because of a fire in the south-western region of Landa, near an area that had already been devastated by wildfires.
More than 2,000 people were also evacuated from the village of Gey in western Germany after a wildfire spread to the village near the border with Belgium.
Meanwhile, on Friday, millions of people in England and Wales were sent an emergency wildfire alert warning of a "very high risk" of wildfires in the country, as firefighters continue to battle numerous blazes in the West Midlands.