Fire spreads across Suva Planina as an Ilyushin aircraft joins the fight

The fire on Suva Planina is still burning and spreading on both sides of the mountain range, in areas belonging to Bela Palanka and Gadžin Han.

There was one positive development on Saturday morning: the fire stopped advancing from the Devojački Grob peak toward the part of the mountain near Niš and the Bojanine Vode recreational area.

Firefighters from Niš, volunteer fire brigades and foresters from Srbijašume are on the ground, joined by many hikers and nature enthusiasts from Niš and villages at the foot of the mountain. Students involved in the blockade at the University of Niš and citizens’ assemblies urged physically fit people to help fight the blaze.

A Russian Ilyushin firefighting aircraft made two sorties the previous day and flew over Suva Planina again on Saturday to support people battling the fire by hand. The terrain is difficult to access, so firefighters, foresters and civilians must carry water backpacks for kilometers along steep mountain paths to reach the burning areas.

The fire began the previous morning in beech forest above the Bela Palanka villages of Veta and Kosmovac. It quickly spread across the mountain range and reached the Devojački Grob and Trem peaks.