STA, 9 August 2022 - A fire broke out last night under Socerb hill near the border with Italy, south-east of Trieste, and the blaze is not yet under control, with the strong bora wind spreading the fire downhill towards the villages of Osp in Slovenia and Prebenico in Italy.
Jan Brodar, who heads the firefighting effort on the Slovenian side, said that people's lives are not endangered at the moment.
There are around 100 firefighters on the Slovenian side, and the Slovenian Armed Forces have made two of its helicopters available for the effort. A Canadair water bomber and a helicopter are being used on the Italian side.
Note the following map shows the location of Socerb, not the fireModerate Bora wind is reviving the wild fire on the leeward side of Mount Carso - Sočerb in the coastal Karst.
— Alpine-Adriatic Meteorological Society (@aametsoc) August 9, 2022
The village of Prebenico has been now evacuating.
From left Margherita Tironi, webcam @cisartrieste. Last picture is taken by V.Babich at 1.30 pm pic.twitter.com/ttJbfIADrw
Several Osp residents have left their homes, mostly due to smoke, and several web portals reported that the village is being evacuated, which Brodar denies, saying no evacuation had been ordered by the authorities.
Primorski Dnevnik, the Trieste-based Slovenian newspaper, reported that fires had also broken out on Tuesday afternoon at three locations between Villa Opicina and the border with Slovenia. The fires have been contained.
The Slovenian Civil Protection and Disaster Relief Administration also used for the effort the water from tank trucks destined for the Cepki drinking water treatment facility that supplies the Slovenian coast during the current water shortage amid the drought.
The Rižana water supply utility has thus noted that the system is running out of water and called on users to adhere to strict rationing and all the other restrictions and bans related to the use of water.
