Fire in the Deliblato Sands localized, says Dačić — after a month and a half of battling flames

The fire in the Deliblato Sands (Deliblatska Peščara), which broke out in the village of Šumarak in Vojvodina, has been localized after a month and a half of battling the flames. The news was announced by the caretaker Minister of the Interior, Ivica Dačić, according to BBC News in Serbian.

The Deliblato Sands, known as the “European Sahara”, is Europe’s largest sand area and a nature reserve with over 900 plant species. More than 10,000 firefighter-rescuers and other services took part in extinguishing the fire. “No settlement burned and no house was destroyed,” Dačić declared, adding that thousands of hectares of forest and land were scorched — around 4,000 hectares of burned land.

International forces also joined the operation through the EU civil protection mechanism: a Russian Il-76 aircraft dropped 1,000 tonnes of water, while helicopters from Czechia, Romania and Slovakia, as well as firefighting teams from Germany and Romania, helped on the ground.

The fire claimed one life: a 70-year-old lost his life in Smederevo. Environment Minister Sara Pavkov has announced a remediation plan, while experts say it will take decades for the forests to recover. President Aleksandar Vučić visited the area and denied that the fire had been set deliberately.

Source: BBC News in Serbian / Danas