Fire continues to spread across Suva Planina as firefighters, foresters, rescuers and residents battle the flames

The fire sweeping across Suva Planina is still burning on both sides of the mountain range, despite efforts by firefighters, foresters, mountain rescuers and local residents to contain it.

Over the past two days, crews stopped the flames from advancing from the Devojački grob pass toward the Niš side of the mountain and the nearby picnic area. The fire, however, remains uncontrolled across a large part of the range. Residents of villages below Suva Planina posted photographs throughout the evening and night showing flames and fire lines shifting from one slope to another.

Srđan Mitrović, head of the Emergency Situations Directorate in Niš, said the fire was currently most active around Devojački grob, a pass at about 1,300 meters above sea level. The blaze began in beech forest above the Bela Palanka villages of Veta and Kosmovac before quickly spreading across the mountain range, the pass and Trem, the highest peak at 1,810 meters.

The Serbian-Russian Humanitarian Center said a Russian Ilyushin firefighting aircraft made six sorties the previous day and would continue fighting the fire. Ground operations remain difficult because the affected peaks are highly inaccessible, with no water sources or mountain roads leading to them. Suva Planina stretches 45 kilometers and is 15 kilometers wide. Serbian geographer Jovan Cvijić called it the “Alps” of southern Serbia.