The footage circulating tonight from the Shtip - Kochani expressway looked like a shot from a disaster film: the road wrapped in flames on both sides, cars driving through a corridor of fire. The reality was simpler and sadder - stubble was burning beside the road.

The Protection and Rescue Directorate confirmed the fire had been fully extinguished. It started on stubble right next to the road, then spread to both sides. Traffic was cut for a while, and authorities told drivers to avoid the route and use surrounding local roads for the duration of the operation.

What finally put the fire out was not a plane, not a helicopter, not an extra crew. It rained. The Directorate says plainly that the rain came to their aid and sped up the work. That is a sentence worth reading twice - in a country where forests burn all summer long, the most effective firefighting measure on this stretch of road was a change in the weather.

Stubble does not set itself on fire

Burning stubble after the harvest is a practice as old as farming here, and it is banned by law for exactly the reason we are now watching on video. A dry August, high temperatures, wind and burning wheat residue next to a main road - that is not an accident, that is a predictable outcome. Same scenario every year, same footage every year, and the same question every year: how many misdemeanour charges have been filed for burning stubble, and how many of them ended with a fine actually collected?

The Shtip - Kochani expressway is not a side street. It is the main artery of the Eastern region, with hundreds of vehicles on it every day. Traffic cut because of fire a few metres from the asphalt means one burning leftover from a field briefly severed the link between two towns.

Tonight it ended well - nobody hurt, no burnt-out vehicles, the fire extinguished. But leaning on rain as a firefighting strategy is not a plan. It is luck. And luck, unlike an inspectorate, does not get budgeted for.