Most of the call-outs by Kumanovo's firefighters this weekend were not in Kumanovo. They were in Lipkovo, in the neighbouring villages, where the fire has been burning for days. Mayor Maksim Dimitrievski said so out loud - and then delivered the sentence that explains the whole situation.

"The Municipality of Kumanovo covers the greater part of the fire service's costs out of its own budget, while the other municipalities we cover do not set aside a single denar."

So: one municipality pays, several municipalities use. That is not solidarity, that is a hole in the system. Dimitrievski says the issue has been raised repeatedly at ZELS sessions, but that "certain municipalities simply have someone else looking after their safety".

He insists Kumanovo was never left without reserve teams, despite a significant share of its personnel being sent outside the territory. In recent days Kumanovo's firefighters were deployed to Nikustak, where the fire spread towards Matejce and the monastery, and also to Umin Dol, Kuckarevo, Gradiste, Rezanovce and Vistica, plus a house fire on Bozidar Mickovic Street.

Six locations plus an urban call-out in a single weekend, from a unit financed by one municipality alone. If that is not the definition of an overloaded system, what is?

Lipkovo is neither the first nor the only municipality in Macedonia without organised fire protection. Every summer the same arithmetic repeats itself: fire does not recognise municipal borders, while firefighting budgets recognise them with great precision. The difference is paid by those who have a unit - in people, in fuel and in risk.

The question for ZELS and for the state stays open for another season: who pays for putting the fire out when nobody is obliged to?