Eurasia Press & News
A fire on the hill above Podgorica briefly threatened homes and nearby embassies – one of several blazes attributed to the prolonged hot dry weather and the wind.Residents of Podgorica were shocked on Monday night when Mt Gorica, the hill after which the capital is named, caught fire.
The blaze threatened to spread to nearby houses and even to the adjacent embassies of Slovenia, Germany, Greece, Romania and Britain.Within three hours, however, troops, police, fire brigades and volunteers contained the blaze.
The cause was most probably a crack in a high-voltage power cable.
On Monday night, a fire also broke out in the wood close to the Podgorica Aluminum Plant, but this was also kept under control.
The Ministry of Interior has warned since beginning of July that the extremely hot weather is increasing the risk of fires, especially in the area of Podgorica, the nearby town of Danilovgrad and on the coast.
However, fires have also broken out in several places in the north, burning down several homes.
For more than 10 days, a fire has continued to blaze in the Tara canyon and in the nature reserve at Crna Poda.
Helicopters lent by the Serbian and Croatian military as well as local police have been battling the flames.
Some media and members of the public have criticized the authorities for the blazes, saying they were clearly under-equipped and unprepared to cope with the outbreaks.
