Skopje breathed smoke from three directions last night. The fire near the "Stenkovec" sports airfield, where an illegal dump of accumulated waste is burning, flared up while the fire in the Ramno area of Skopska Crna Gora was still not under control. Two more broke out in the afternoon - in the Kondovo area and in the Gjorce Petrov municipality.

The result is a city with closed windows on a September evening. A strong smell of smoke was noticeable in several parts of Skopje, and residents reported burning throats and eyes. Temperatures finally eased in the afternoon, but the relief turned out to be unusable - instead of a walk, the people of Skopje got a choice between an open window and clean air.

Stojance Angelov, director of the Protection and Rescue Directorate, was explicit about what is burning at "Stenkovec". "Black smoke is rising like an atomic bomb. Skopje firefighters have reached the site. A larger area will be hard to bring under control. It has been active for a long time, accumulated waste is burning, which will produce even more smoke", he said.

Accumulated waste. That is the key phrase of the whole evening, and it is not a meteorological one. The illegal dump at "Stenkovec" did not appear on Sunday afternoon - it piled up there while someone was looking the other way. When it catches fire, it produces exactly the thick black smoke the city then inhales for hours.

Crews have been trying to contain the Ramno fire in the Cucer-Sandevo municipality for two days. Angelov explained why it is going badly: the fire sits in a deep ravine about 1,600 metres long, filled with smoke that makes it impossible to work. Skopje firefighters are on the ground with support from the directorate's Pinzgauer vehicles, 30 army personnel and a police helicopter. The task is to keep the fire from crossing the road.

The wind decided the rest of the bill. It is blowing towards Skopje and carrying the smoke straight into the city - by current estimates, the smell will linger until it turns. At night the fire can only be fought from the ground; the air tractors cannot join until morning.

Angelov said there are at least 30 active open-air fires across the country, calling the number unusually high for this time of year. Not for July - for September. A large fire is also threatening houses near the village of Miletino in the Brvenica municipality, where firefighters from Tetovo are deployed.

There is no danger to the surrounding villages, the authorities say. That is probably true. But in a city of half a million people, "no danger" means nothing is going to burn down - not that the evening was not spent in a sealed room.