Dačić: Fires on the Stolovi and Goč mountains extinguished

Forest fires that challenged emergency crews for days on Serbia’s Stolovi and Goč mountains have been extinguished, Interior Minister Ivica Dačić said.

More than 300 firefighters took part in the operation on Stolovi near Kraljevo, where the fire began on Aug. 5. Another blaze broke out near the Ljukten peak on Goč, in the municipality of Vrnjačka Banja, on Aug. 25. More than 100 firefighters fought that fire.

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After a dayslong battle by firefighters, rescue workers, Helicopter Unit pilots and other engaged forces, the fires on Stolovi near Kraljevo and on Mount Goč near Vrnjačka Banja have been extinguished.

Dačić said the terrain and the complexity of the situation made the firefighting particularly difficult. Firefighters from the Interior Ministry’s Emergency Situations Sector, pilots from the Helicopter Unit and other services worked together to bring both fires under control.

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No people were killed or injured in either operation, which is always our priority.

“After a dayslong battle by firefighters, rescue workers, Helicopter Unit pilots and other engaged forces, the fires on Stolovi near Kraljevo and on Mount Goč near Vrnjačka Banja have been extinguished,” Dačić said, according to the Interior Ministry. He added that neither operation resulted in deaths or injuries, which he described as the authorities’ priority.

He said the response also protected Šošanica village in the Kraljevo area and saved a pine forest complex on Goč. The medieval Maglič fortress, he stressed, was never threatened by the fire. Crews will now be reduced as conditions allow, while teams continue monitoring the area and inspecting the burned ground.

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The medieval Maglič fortress was not threatened by the fire at any point.