A strong fire is burning near the coastal settlements of Baošići and Bijela, close to Herceg Novi. The fire broke out in Bijela and spread quickly towards Baošići, in the night between Tuesday and Wednesday.

Low vegetation is burning, and a strong wind is fanning the fire further and making it harder to put out. The fire is spreading through an area crossed by a power line, and the flames have come close to houses and to the church. Bijela and Baošići were left without electricity and without water, and two crews of firefighters were on the ground.

Two crews. For a front moving across an entire hill, on a windy night, in the middle of August, when the whole coast is full.

Several buildings were evacuated as a precaution. From the main road, local residents and tourists watched the flames swallow the hillside. Numerous fire and ambulance vehicles moved along the road. So far there is no information on anyone injured.

This is not an isolated report. The entire eastern Mediterranean is under the same pressure this week: dry vegetation, high temperatures and a wind that turns one spark into a front within half an hour. The difference between a fire that burns two hectares and a fire that reaches houses is usually not how strong the wind is, but how quickly and with how much capacity somebody got out on the ground.

That is why the figure „two crews” matters more than any photograph of the flames. Every summer, after the outbreak, come the same statements about preparedness and about procuring new vehicles, and every summer the hill burns while people watch from the main road. The question left once the smoke settles is whether anyone will open the fire-protection budget before next August, or only after it.