BELGRADE (Reuters) – North Macedonia and Bosnia’s Serb Republic asked Serbia for firefighting helicopters on Monday to combat forest fires triggered by a heatwave that has affected much of eastern and southern Europe.
The Serbian interior minister Ivica Dacic said Belgrade had received a telephone request for help from North Macedonia, whose government on Sunday declared a state of emergency for a month due to fires.
“I think we have enough capacity to help two countries,” Dacic said in a statement on Monday.
Temperatures were sizzling across the Balkans last week as a prolonged heatwave continued, and most of the countries in the region were baking from temperatures exceeding 39 degrees Celsius (102 Fahrenheit).
North Macedonia’s firefighters are battling 17 wildfires in arid and mountainous regions in central and southern parts of the country, Prime Minister Hristijan Mickoski wrote on his Facebook page.
“Help will soon arrive from Slovenia, Turkey, Serbia and Montenegro,” Mickoski said.
Bosnia’s Serb Republic also asked Belgrade for a firefighting helicopter to help it contain a major fire near Gacko in the south of the country, near neighboring Montenegro.
Serbia’s military and police currently operate around a dozen helicopters that can be used for firefighting, including two specialised Russian Ka-32s.
In other parts of Europe, Italy is also expected to face blistering heat, with temperatures seen reaching 45 C. Searing temperatures have also impacted countries like Greece, France, Spain, Poland and Ukraine.
(Reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic; Editing by Bernadette Baum)
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