Blazes Expose Montenegro's Firefighting Deficiencies

Montenegrin Prime Minister Dusko Markovic scheduled an emergency meeting of the security services on Tuesday as the country awaited assistance from NATO and the EU to tackle blazes in the coastal and central area of the country, after admitting that it could not cope on its own.

Local media reported on Tuesday that the Montenegrin government asked NATO to help by sending two Canadair firefighting planes to combat blazes on the Lustica peninsula and in the Djurasevici area in the south of the country which have forced the evacuation of the local population.

New fires were reported on Tuesday near the capital, Podgorica, and the towns on Cetinje, Niksic and Bar, with strong winds making it more difficult to contain them.

The call for assistance came after the Montenegrin government admitted on Monday that it could not deal with the fires alone and asked for help from NATO and the European Union civil protection force in Brussels.

"As soon as we received the call, we forwarded the request to member states that own this type of aviation and a search is in progress. Montenegro will immediately be put in contact with the country that owns the requested type of planes and assistance will be sent to the site," public broadcaster RTCG quoted a NATO official as saying on Tuesday.

Montenegrin Interior Minister Melvludin Nuhodzic said the first international help was expected to arrive "soon". 

Fire threat to Croatia eases

The blazes that had been threatening the Croatian coastal city of Split have eased, authorities said on Tuesday.

"The situation has normalised as the wind has subsided and we have also got the help of firefighting planes. The situation is much better than last night. Now we're working...