Five active fire fronts in the fields around the village of Raec, near Kavadarci. Not one blaze spreading, but five separate fronts in the same night. Mayor Mitko Jančev did not wait for a morning statement from his office - he went on social media late at night and wrote that the situation was extremely serious.

"The competent services, the firefighters and all the crews involved are making maximum efforts to contain the blaze," Jančev said, appealing to residents not to head toward the affected area and not to obstruct the crews at work.

The appeal ended with a sentence that says more than the rest of the statement combined: anyone who spots a new fire front should report it immediately. In other words, the services know the front is not closed, and that tomorrow morning they could wake up to a sixth and a seventh.

All this on the night before a day when the thermometer in the country climbs toward 39 degrees, with an even stronger wave forecast from 5 August. Dry ground, wind and temperatures above 35 - that is the recipe we rewrite every summer, and every summer we act surprised when it catches fire.

The question left hanging is not whether the fire near Raec will be put out. It will be, because the firefighters are working. The question is why, after this many hectares burned, it is still mayors who raise the first alarm on Facebook, while prevention - firebreaks, clearing dry ground, standby crews in high-risk areas - stays a topic for September, when it is already too late.