PM Plenkovic says govt to provide financial assistance to alleviate damage caused by fire in Split

Prime Minister Andrej Plenkovic said on Tuesday that the government would provide funding to help alleviate the damage caused by a wildfire in the area of Split, noting that there was currently no need to seek international assistance to put out the fire.

"As regards compensation for the damage, the government will look for money to alleviate it either in funds that have already been allocated or in budget reserves," Plenkovic said after chairing a session of a crisis response team in Split focusing on the ongoing fire in that coastal city.

Split-Dalmatia County head Blazenko Boban said that local authorities would collect information in the area affected by the fire in order to decide whether to declare a state of natural disaster.

Asked by reporters if there was a need to seek international assistance in putting out the fire in the Split area, which he announced on Monday, Plenkovic said that there was no such need at the moment.

He recalled that an assessment to that effect must be made by firemen and others on the ground involved in activities aimed at containing the fire and that some countries had offered assistance.

"This fire is not as big as the fire in Israel a few months ago when Israeli Prime Minister (Benjamin) Netanyahu personally phoned me to ask for help and we responded in less than 24 hours and our pilots and canadair planes went to Israel," said Plenkovic.

The capability of complementary action of Croatian firefighting units is at a high level and there is no need for assistance from outside the country for the time being, said the PM.

Answering reporters' questions, he dismissed objections that the response to the fire in the area of Split was slow, disorganised and uncoordinated.

"The fire in the area of Split is one of the 14 fires that occurred in Split-Dalmatia County in the last three-four days. Currently there are 159 firetrucks and 700 firefighters and Croatian Army servicemen on the ground and backup forces from other parts of the country have arrived in Split as well," Plenkovic said, adding that efforts to put out the fire in Split was evidence of the solidarity and good organisation of firefighting units at the national level.

He said that the fire was 14 kilometres long and four kilometres wide and that it was not easy to put out because of difficult terrain.

Asked to comment on information about inadequate local resources to put out the fire in Split and that old firetrucks were used to put out the fire, Plenkovic said that assistance arrived from other parts of Croatia.

"New firetrucks arrived from Zagreb and other parts of the country in Split last night and that completed the capacity to put out fires in Dalmatia," he said.

Asked to comment on a request by the non-governmental sector to dedicate a separate part of the national security strategy to fires, Plenkovic said that firefighting was included in the national security strategy.

"It is very good that firefighting is included in the national security strategy," he stressed.

Text: Hina

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