Greek meteorologists have warned that the smoke from the big fire that has been raging for days in the territory of the Municipality of Novatsi has caused air pollution in the Greek territory in the area of ​​Lerin and Kozani and the fire threatens to reach the lignite mines in this part of Northern Greece.

- In the last two days, the northerly winds in the atmosphere of the areas from Lerin to Kozani carried the pollution from the big fire burning in the northwestern part of the Nidze mountain in North Macedonia. It is a big fire that burned about 90 square kilometers of land, mainly grassy areas, in an area characterized by a very hilly area, while the western edges of the fire are in contact with lignite mines located in the neighboring country - announced the Greek forecaster Giorgos Vassiliadis.

The Kozhan portal also published a photo of the vestibule of the closed "Ptolemaida" high school, where you can see the veil of smoke covering the horizon.

The fire broke out in the Municipality of Novaci on August 9 and is still active today in the stretch from the villages of Polog - Tapevci - Gnilej - Paralovo where low vegetation is burning. According to information from the Crisis Management Center, the fire is on inaccessible rocky and stony terrain and is difficult to extinguish from the ground. Firefighters from TPPE Bitola with firefighting vehicles, as well as employees from PE NSH "Kajmakchalan" from Bitola, are participating in the extinguishing on the ground these days.

A Mi-171 police helicopter from the Department of Aviation Units operated on the fire in the municipality of Novaci yesterday, where it dropped 45 tons of water.

CUK: 10 fires are active, six are under control, and 21 have been extinguished