Fire on Korčula again out of control, could threaten houses

The fire in the area of Smokvica on the island of Korčula got out of firefighters' control again on Monday afternoon, after they had temporarily contained the northeastern side of the fire zone on Sunday, according to the fire commander of the Dubrovnik-Neretva County, Stjepan Simović, as reported by the Patria news agency.

-It escaped us today, the situation is very bad. Water-bombing planes are coming to help, he said briefly in a telephone statement to Hina, adding that the situation with the fire is very bad.

He pointed out that the fire currently does not threaten houses, but that there is a likely possibility of that happening, depending on the wind and weather conditions. The biggest battle with the fire element is currently in defending the area towards the town of Brna, writes Index. 

On the ground, there are more than 100 members of numerous volunteer fire departments and public firefighting units, as well as water-bombing planes of the Armed Forces of the Republic of Croatia.