If the army had arrived on time, more people would have been saved, volunteer Boban Radeski talks about the fire in the village of Taževo with tears in his eyes.

An entire village burned, all the media reported on that fateful day, August 5, 2024.

The fires burned a huge area in the Poreče area. From the forest areas, the flames suddenly descended towards the weekend settlement. Radeski was alone in the village and started extinguishing the fire with his bare hands. In the fight with the giant flames and the black dangerous smoke, risking his own life, this man will be remembered for the fact that he managed to save five houses in the village that will bear witness to the great tragedy.

Radeski is originally from Taževo, several years after he moved to Skopje, but every free opportunity he went with his family to enjoy the beautiful nature.

- And that day, when the first fire happened, I was here in Taževo. Sim called me and said: Are you gassing in Taževo? I thought he was joking with me, when I came out what to see, Yasen is burning! The firefighters came, the local population immediately activated, but the fire was stronger than us. Luckily it rained, but after a few days it started to burn again. Then the fire spread to Taževo and Borova Breznica in the forest part, and soon it descended to the houses. It was terrible - Radeski tells Free Press.

The fiery element did not subside for days, the fight lasted for almost a month.

- The army came every day around 9-10 am, but that day I don't know why it didn't come until 15 pm. Then the fire descended to the houses. I went to put out the fire alone, I was alone in the village, when the firefighters came to evacuate me, then the army arrived, but it was already too late, the whole village burned down - says our interlocutor.

Dozens of houses, old Macedonian fireplaces, some of which were functional after a hundred years, remained in ashes in the space. Seemingly old houses, but if you look at it from another angle, they were buildings of historical value. A large area of ​​forest vegetation has gone into oblivion.

Radeski sees the problem in the infrastructure and appeals to the authorities to solve that problem as soon as possible.

- That road is a missed investment, a lot of time was lost, the road is bad and it goes around for 14 kilometers, along very dangerous curves, and on the other side, I don't know why they don't let that road go, because of fires, God forbid, it will be faster, this is how a wealth of time was lost - he says.

When asked if there is discussion about afforestation of this area, Radeski did not have an answer, he says that no one has mentioned it so far.