EU crews and a Russian aircraft help Serbia fight major wildfires as extreme heat and drought fuel fires across the Balkans.

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Serbia requests international assistance to battle wildfires

Helicopters and firefighters from European Union countries, including crews from the Czech Republic and Romania, are working alongside Serbian teams to contain a large wildfire that has been burning for weeks in Deliblatska Pescara, a protected nature reserve near the capital, Belgrade, according to state media.

The operation continued into Monday as Serbia’s RTS reported that a separate fire in the southwestern Stolovi mountain range had been brought under control, with help from a Russian Ilyushin Il-76 water-bombing aircraft.

RTS said 168 tonnes of water have been dropped on the two fires — 126 tonnes in Deliblatska Pescara and 42 in Stolovi.

Serbia’s Interior Minister, Ivica Dacic, described the situation as “extremely difficult,” according to Euro News, with more than 400 personnel deployed to the area each day.

President Aleksandar Vucic said Belgrade had turned to both the EU and Russia once it became clear Serbia’s own resources were not enough.

“The very second we realised that our own forces were no longer sufficient, we immediately requested urgent assistance from Russia and the European mechanism,” he said.

Serbia is not an EU member but can request aid under the bloc’s Civil Protection Mechanism, a system that allows EU countries to pool emergency resources for disasters. The Serbs formally asked for help on Friday.

The EU response includes four Black Hawk helicopters from Romania, Slovakia and the Czech Republic, along with teams of firefighters and vehicles from Germany and Romania.

Some aircraft were already in action over the weekend and the rest of the deployment, including a German ground team, is due to arrive by Monday.

The EU’s mutual aid system has worked both ways during the summer there. Serbia sent a firefighting helicopter and response team to Spain earlier in the wildfire season, when various blazes stretched the bloc’s own resources thin.

Fires are also burning across the border in North Macedonia, where a blaze near the town of Strumica reportedly damaged at least one home.

“It was devouring everything,” said Ljubce Ivanski, a farmer near one fire, describing how strong winds overwhelmed firefighting planes and helicopters.

The wildfire season now unfolding across the Balkans has been driven by an unusually hot, dry summer that has left much of the region primed to burn.

Just across the border, a large fire that broke out over the weekend between Bosnia and Croatia forced the closure of the main road linking Trebinje to the Croatian tourist city of Dubrovnik, stranding thousands of travellers and prompting the evacuation of nearby villages.

Croatian firefighters crossed the border to help contain the blaze, which has spread across 16km of difficult terrain.