Pages

Monday, September 10, 2007

Conflagration near Dubrovnik


BBC Online: 06 August, 2007
"Dubrovnik threatened by forest fire. A state of emergency has been declared in Croatia, after a forest fire reached the suburbs of the medieval coastal city of Dubrovnik. The walled city is a major tourist attraction, and is classed as a UNESCO world heritage site."
When we drove by taxi south of Dubrovnik to the airport, we remarked on the vast areas of charred countryside along the coast. The taxi driver recounted that the fire was fierce and widespread, fanned by high winds.
Adding to the conflagration, the fire randomly exploded land mines still buried in the area. To further aggravate the situation, there are lost caches of arms from the 1991-95 war in the woods. When the fire hit these, in culmination they spewed bullets like machine guns.
Not a place for firefighters.

No comments: