Summer is saying its piece. The Crisis Management Centre (CMC) reports that by 6 p.m. yesterday 13 open-air fires had been registered across the country, of which 10 were fully put out, while three remain active.

The active fires are in three municipalities: near the village of Kalauslija in the Radoviš area an old tree is burning, between Stojakovo and Bogdanci in the Gevgelija area stubble is burning, and near Dobrašinci in the Vasilevo area low vegetation is burning. The fires that were extinguished were in several places - in the Skopje area (Šuto Orizari, Karpoš, Petrovec), and around Kičevo, Kumanovo, Negotino and Lozovo.

The figures are dry, but the story behind them repeats every summer: stubble that burns, low vegetation that catches, crews running from one municipality to the next. Some of these fires are accidental, some aren't - burning stubble after the harvest is an old practice that carries the same bill every year.

Once summer passes, the number of fires will be forgotten until the next hot week. And the question that goes unanswered every year is whether we learn anything at all between two seasons - or just wait for the next wind and the next spark, with crews that put things out fast but no one to stop there being something to put out in the first place.