Some 880 fires in the first 26 days of July? What’s going on? Croatia’s head fireman suspects arson in the blazes that have been tearing through patches of the Croatian interior leaving 18 dead. Most of the fires broke out in Lika-Senj County Karlovac County, Slavonski Brod-Posavina County and Osijek-Baranja County but the hills around Dubrovnik were also blighted with fires that were quickly contained. The hinterlands of Split and Zadar also were ablaze with fires that are now contained. Croatia islands have been largely spared except for Solta which suffered a serious fire last week.

Sadly, one of Croatia’s most beautiful national parks, Paklenica National Park is currently being threatened by fire. Beginning on July 26, the fire at Veliki Rujan is still blazing desipite the efforts of several hundred firefighters and soldiers, two planes and a helicopter. See the video.  Strong northerly winds have made it difficult but the latest word is that the fire has been contained.