Twenty kilometres of fire line. From the course of the Crna Reka to the peak of Margaro. That is the length of the fire that flared up again yesterday afternoon in the Prilep part of Mariovo, and which is currently the largest active fire in the country.

The director of the Protection and Rescue Directorate, Stojanče Angelov, said the thing that is rarely said out loud: „We're in for a hard night, we have to defend the village of Kruševica.” Not „the situation is under control”. Not „all resources have been deployed, there is no cause for concern”. But a night to be survived and a village to be defended.

Who is fighting it

On the ground are Prilep firefighters, teams from the Protection and Rescue Directorate, volunteers from Bitola, Kočani and Vinica, the Universal Unit from Prilep, the „Macedonian Forests” service, voluntary fire brigades and a large number of residents. For part of the day air tractors were deployed too, and the aerial support managed to stop the fire spreading towards the nearby monastery.

It is a long list. Notice what is on it - and what is not. Volunteers from three towns who travelled to Mariovo. Local residents. That is the line-up holding the line.

The village that burned

In Čanište several houses burned down last night. According to the local authority these were long-abandoned buildings, all active households are safe and residents have returned to their homes. About ten people live in the village.

Firefighting was further complicated by something you do not encounter at many fire sites in Europe: unexploded shells from the First World War. Explosions were heard during the intervention, which made it harder for crews to move around. Mariovo has carried that reputation for more than a hundred years, and it is still paying for it.

Tomorrow is harder than today

The problem is not just yesterday's wind. From Thursday Macedonia enters a new heatwave from the south, with temperatures above 40 degrees in Pelagonia and tropical nights when the mercury does not drop below 20. Tall dry grass and shifting wind are exactly the combination that turns an extinguished fire back into a blaze by mid-afternoon.

Prilep mayor Dejan Prodanoski is urging people not to burn stubble, fields, waste or dry vegetation, and not to leave fires unattended. The appeal is correct. The question is why every summer the appeal arrives after the fire line is already twenty kilometres long, rather than before.

For now the most important figure is zero - nobody injured. Tonight that figure is being defended with volunteers and air tractors.