A glimmer of hope for Deliblato Sands: "If things stay this way, the forest will recover — but if not…"

“It should be emphasized that, so far, not a single house has burned down; only the forest has been affected, covering around 7% to 8% of the entire Deliblato Sands. The Deliblato Sands covers 32,000 hectares, but if the damage remains at this level, the forest should recover within the next five years. If things stay as they are, the situation is not nearly as tragic as it appeared two or three days ago,” Kokai told TV Prva.

He said they were cautiously optimistic yesterday and today, as temperatures had dropped somewhat and were no longer reaching 40 degrees Celsius during the day, but rather 32 to 33 degrees.

“The wind is also not as strong as it was, so it is no longer spreading the fire at the same rate as it did from Wednesday through Sunday. For that reason, we can expect, or at least we have a feeling, that this may be brought to an end in the coming days. We are completing the cutting of firebreaks, which means widening forest roads. So far, we have completed around 25 kilometers of firebreaks, with another 10 kilometers remaining. Once that is done, we will have completed all the technically feasible measures to protect the Deliblato Sands,” Kokai emphasized.

He identified the settlement of Šumarak as the most critical area because the wind had been blowing from north to south toward it. However, he noted that the wind was changing direction today, which should ease the pressure on Šumarak. According to him, the villages of Šušara and Kajtasovo are now expected to be the most critical areas.

“We are fortunate that these villages are not actually located in the forest, but that there are fields between the forest and the populated areas. The farmers have already plowed and harrowed the fields, so the fire cannot reach the villages. There are a few weekend houses ahead of Kajtasovo, and we are already working in that area. We have also completed the widening of the forest roads there, so, with a little help from God, those weekend houses should not be at risk either.

But we are working at full speed specifically between Šumarak and Kajtasovo to complete the widening of the forest roads,” said the director of Vojvodinašume, adding that 20 bulldozers are working along that line, out of a total of 28 bulldozers currently operating in the Deliblato Sands.

He stressed that employees of Vojvodinašume are also assisting professional firefighters, standing watch and helping to fight the blaze, but that their main task is to work on the forest roads.

Kokai said that weather conditions are the biggest challenge facing firefighters, as strong winds are blowing.

“It should be understood that this is a pine forest. It is extremely dry now because of the high temperatures, and when a pine forest catches fire, it can send pine cones flying more than 100 meters. Pine bark can also travel more than 100 meters, easily carrying the fire across the widened forest roads. Depending on the terrain, these forest roads are between 20 and 70 or 80 meters wide,” Kokai emphasized.

He stressed that, with the strong winds now subsiding and temperatures falling, they are optimistic that the fires will be brought under control in the coming days.

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