Belgrade, July 26 (UNI) The biggest wildfire in Slovenia has engulfed 3,500 hectares (8,648 acres) of forest despite a massive government counter-effort involving military aircraft, the Slovenian defense ministry said on Tuesday.
Wildfires migrated into Slovenia's southwest from neighboring Italy more than a week ago, facilitated by wind and abnormal heatwave in the Balkan region, with temperatures rising above 35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit). Over 1,100 firefighters, military and aviation personnel from seven EU countries and Serbia have been extinguishing the fire during the worst days. It was brought under control earlier on Tuesday thanks to a firefighting team involving 230 military personnel, two aircraft and 70 vehicles, the Slovenian authorities said.
"The area covered by the fire, as of July 25, amounted to 3,500 hectares. Aviation has dropped more than 2 million tonnes of water on the fire and made over 224 hours of flight. The Slovenian army had used Bell 412 helicopters, an AS 532 Cougar helicopter and a Pilatus PC-6 aircraft; two Bell 412 helicopters are on duty on Tuesday, commensurate with the size of the fire," the ministry said.
The defense ministry also acknowledged all the international assistance Slovenia has received, including two Mi-17 helicopters from Hungary, a Black Hawk UH-60 helicopter from Slovakia, two C27J Spartan and one C–130 Hercules planes from Romania, two Bell 212 helicopters from Serbia and one from Austria, and a Canadair CL-215 plane and helicopters equipped with extinguishing tanks from Croatia and Italy.
UNI/SPUTNIK VP RNJ