About 500 evacuated as wildfire rages on Croatian island of Brac

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ZAGREB: About 500 people have been evacuated on the Croatian Adriatic island of Brac as a wildfire raged on the popular tourist spot famous for its white sand beach.

Authorities sounded the alarm shortly before midnight on Saturday (Sep 13) as flames threatened to get close to homes in the small town of Milna in the west of the island.

Fanned by strong winds, the fire has consumed about 3,500ha (8,600 acres), an area roughly two-thirds the size of Manhattan, authorities said.

Two people have been wounded, including one seriously, firefighters told the official Hina news agency.

"The wind is still blowing but I think we have a good chance of controlling the fire by the end of the day," firefighting chief Nikola Martinic Dragan was quoted as saying by Hina.

Four Canadair water-bombing aircraft have been at work since the morning, while more than 220 firefighters backed by 69 vehicles have worked through the night to douse the blaze, the firefighters' statement said.

Several boats from the harbourmaster's office and the maritime police worked alongside private vessels to get people out of the areas near Milna threatened by the flames.

In total, about 3,500ha of pine forest and scrubland were devastated by the blaze, Hina reported, citing a senior firefighter.

As with elsewhere in Europe, Croatia has seen an extremely hot and dry summer, which has created tinderbox-like conditions for wildfires to rage.

Scientists have long warned that climate change driven by humanity's burning of fossil fuels is making periods of extreme heat and drought more frequent, intense and longer-lasting.

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