Tourists evacuated from Croatian island as major fire burns nearby

Tourists have been evacuated from the Croatian island of Brac as a major forest fire approached homes and hotels.

The fire broke out Thursday evening in the western part of Brač, one of the largest islands in the Croatian Adriatic, off the coast of Split.

Battling very strong, shifting winds, firefighters – assisted by several Canadair water-bombing planes – have not yet managed to bring the blaze under control. 

Nearly 180 firefighters and around 50 vehicles battled the blaze on Friday and Saturday. Reinforcements consisting of 44 firefighters and 16 vehicles were sent to the island that evening, according to authorities.

After burning through 30 square kilometers of pine forest and scrubland, the fire neared homes in the town of Milna – which has a population of nearly a thousand – on Saturday evening.

On Saturday evening, Croatian authorities activated an alert system to warn residents and tourists nearby.

"The fire is active near Milna. All teams have been mobilized to prevent it from spreading to inhabited areas," the national fire service command stated on its website shortly before midnight, adding that it had initiated a telephone-based public alert system, though no organized evacuation was mentioned at that stage.

However, travel agencies and holiday operators have begun to evacuate their customers. The images here were sent to CGTN by Richard Owen, a tourist evacuated with his family. 

Like much of Europe, Croatia has been hit by several extreme heatwaves and a lack of rainfall, resulting in a particularly dry summer that has created conditions ripe for the spread of forest fires.

In mid-August, a fierce fire devastated the area around the coastal town of Omiš, leaving one person dead and around forty injured—ten of them seriously. Two other people died in the hospital in the weeks following the fire. 

In a single night, the Omiš fire destroyed or damaged nearly 60 houses and residential buildings, dozens of cars, and approximately 10 square kilometers of land. The damage has been estimated at around $125 million.