Belgrade : The head of the EU mission to Belgrade announced that the European Union’s Civil Protection Mechanism will send helicopters and firefighters to Serbia to help tackle a major wildfire in a nature reserve in the northeast of the country.
Serbia activated the mechanism on Friday after weeks of efforts to contain a wildfire in Deliblatska Pescara, about 80 kilometres from the capital, Belgrade, as well as other fires in the southwest of the country.
Luka Causic, head of the Serbian Department for Emergencies, noted that European assistance includes four Black Hawk firefighting helicopters, as well as 55 firefighters and 24 vehicles from Germany, and 69 firefighters and 15 vehicles from Romania.
A Russian IL-76P firefighting aircraft had arrived in the southern Serbian city of Nis to assist efforts to contain the Deliblatska Pescara wildfire, which has burned thousands of hectares of pine forest since late July.
Other wildfires remain active in the rugged Stolovi mountain range in southwestern Serbia, as emergency teams continue efforts to bring them under control.
