Croatia to assist firefighting in Macedonia

[Zdenko]

The Croatian government on Tuesday pledged to send airplanes and armed units to Macedonia to assist local firefighting operations, according to reports from the Croatian capital Zagreb.

Macedonian Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski sent a letter to his Croatian counterpart Ivo Sanader, asking for help from the Croatian air firefighting forces to deal with the fires caused by the sweltering heat,the Croatian news agency HINA reported.

The report said the Croatian government made the decision after consulting chief firefighting commander Mladen Jurin.

About 20 large fires were reported across Macedonia as temperatures reached 42 degrees Celsius in a heat wave across the Balkans. Firefighters from Greece and Bulgaria have been sent to Macedonia to help local forces while a state of emergency have been declared last Thursday.