The Fire on Zheden Is Spreading in Several Directions: Firefighters Depend on Hunters to Reach the Fire Line

The fire on Mount Zheden is spreading in several directions. It started in the fields around the village of Kopanica and by evening had already dropped toward the lower reaches of the terrain, burning hardest on the higher ground - exactly where it is hardest to get to.

The Directorate for Protection and Rescue said dry grass, thornbush, shrubs and low vegetation are burning and that for now there is no threat to inhabited areas. The Directorate's head, Stojance Angelov, confirmed this was one of two large fires active that same evening.

Tetovo's firefighters are on the ground, and with them, hunters. Not as extras - they know the terrain better than any map, which is precisely why they are helping crews reach the fire line. When the state fire service depends on local hunters to break through to a blaze, that says something about the terrain, and something about the equipment they head out with.

That same evening the smoke was visible above Skopska Crna Gora too, enough for people in Skopje to watch it from their balconies. Detailed information from the authorities was a long time coming - the fire was visible, the statements were late.

"No threat to inhabited areas" is the sentence we hear more than any other every summer. It is true right up until it stops being true. And the August wind on Zheden does not wait for a press release before it changes direction.