A wildfire driven by strong winds swept through the Croatian tourist town of Omis overnight, forcing about 1,000 people to evacuate and injuring dozens, authorities said on Friday.
The blaze engulfed homes, settlements and more than 1,000 hectares of trees, turning the night sky red over Omis, a scenic town on Croatia’s Dalmatian coast surrounded by forests and rocky hills.
Emergency shelters opened in several towns between Omis and Split, accommodating about 1,000 evacuees overnight.
Health officials said 36 people were treated by ambulance services in Split, about 25 kilometres north of Omis. Fourteen of them were hospitalised, including seven who suffered life-threatening injuries.
“It was a strong fire, it swept everything on its way… there has been huge material damage,” Chief Fire Commander Slavko Tucakovic said.
The fire appeared to have eased by Friday morning, with no open flames reported, Tucakovic said.
A total of 286 firefighters, 90 fire vehicles and four aircraft battled the blaze through the night, while part of the firefighting force and the aircraft were later redeployed to another fire further south on the Peljesac peninsula.
A section of a major coastal highway was also closed as firefighters worked to contain the blaze.
Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic was travelling to Omis with several government ministers, according to local media reports.
Goran Lović, who owns a cafe near where the fire started in Lokva Rogoznica, told Jutarnji List that the blaze erupted suddenly.
“Everything flared up in a second,” he said, adding that an open flame appeared in a forested area where there were no houses.
The wildfire comes amid a summer of extreme heat and drought across Europe, conditions scientists have linked to climate change and which have heightened the risk of wildfires.
The Balkans has also experienced several heatwaves, with fires threatening tourism during the peak holiday season.
On Thursday, hundreds of holidaymakers fled a beach town in northern Greece by boat after a wildfire spread through a forest towards the coast.
Boluwatife Enome
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