October the 5th, 2023 – The Osijek fire is continuing to burn and lean towards the city itself as firefighters keep fighting the spread. The situation has improved, according to the latest information.
As Poslovni Dnevnik writes, last night, firefighters finally managed to successfully extinguish the flames along the peripheral areas of the Osijek fire at the Drava International company. They soaked all plastic surfaces with water, but much of it is still burning, the commander of the Osijek Public Fire Department said on Thursday.
According to the latest information from the Croatian Fire Association (HZV), the situation with the still burning Osijek fire on the ground is now considerably better.
Osijek Mayor Ivan Radić and Osijek-Baranja Prefect Ivan Anušić will visit the site of the Osijek fire this morning to report on the situation on the ground.
The large fire, which broke out Wednesday after midnight at the open plastic dump of the Osijek company “Drava international” at the exit from Osijek towards Brijesto, was localised yesterday afternoon and remains under surveillance, the Osijek City Administration reported earlier.
A large number of firefighters spent more than twenty long hours at the site of the huge Osijek fire on Wednesday.
“A lot of it is still burning, and the wind direction is currently unfavourable for the City of Osijek itself because the smoke is now actually heading towards Osijek. Given that we have construction machines, today we’re going to try to cover the burning area with earth, if the temperature here allows us to do so. The night passed peacefully and everything is currently alright. The firefighters were putting out the peripheral areas of the fire all the time”, said the commander of the Osijek Public Fire Brigade, Goran Ivković, this morning.
The report about the fire of plastic stored in the open area of the company “Drava international” was received on Wednesday around 40 minutes after midnight, and both professional and volunteer fire brigades were involved in extinguishing it. Almost 200 firefighters with 82 vehicles and a robot, as well as all emergency services, were engaged.
During the intervention, three firefighters were injured, one of them seriously. He was operated on urgently and is now recovering in hospital.
Air quality measurements were also carried out across Osijek and the surrounding affected areas, and the county and Osijek Civil Protection Directorate reported on Wednesday evening that the results of those air quality measurements showed that there was no air pollution.
The mobile team of the Zagreb-based “Andrija Štampar” Public Health Institute also carried out some of their own measurements.
The actual cause of the Osijek fire is currently unknown.
