Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor on Sunday called for an urgent investigation into the cause of a wildfire on the southern island of Brac which she said was horrible, huge and "left one speechless".
Kosor was visiting the headquarters for the protection of Brac from wildfire in Nerezicse, saying that if it was established that man had caused the recent fire, she expected those responsible to be held to account. She added that clues indicated that the fire had been caused by "carelessness."
Kosor called for a swift probe and a swift damage estimate so that he government could help, saying that many olive groves and cattle had perished.
She said the fire on Brac had shown that Croatia had a good fire protection system, as there had been no human victims or damage to houses, and tourists had not left the island.
Kosor thanked everyone who took part in putting out the fire, notably the firemen.
She visited a tent in which 15 volunteers were cooking food for the nearly 400 firemen currently on Brac, where fire commander Mladen Jurin informed her that the fire on Brac was the biggest in Croatia this year and one of the most complicated in recent years, as 80 per cent of the fire site was inaccessible. He said strong wind had spread out the fire to 10 km within five hours but that it started subsiding yesterday.
"The fire on Brac was difficult to put out because it was moving between 10 towns full of tourists, but there was no panic or organised evacuation," said Jurin.
He said there had been 2,160 fires along the coast this year, as against 1,400 last year, and that more land had been burned than in 2010.
The head of the State Protection and Rescue Department, Damir Trut, said firemen were ready to carry out the government's fire protection programme throughout the summer.
Responding to Kosor's questions, the fire officials said firemen would stay on Brac for at least four more days and another fortnight to guard the fire site.
