65 hectares of pine forest burned outside Miskolc, in the Bükk, last Friday. A reader of news site Index, who also sent videos to the portal, said that the fire started in a meadow and spread to the dense pine forest.
Last week, the Borsod-Abaúj-Zemplén County Directorate of Disaster Management reported that the pine forest was burning on an area of about 100 hectares outside Miskolc, in the Bükk near Jávorkút.
The Északerdő Zrt. (“Northern Forest Company”) later said in a statement that the fire had spread to 65 hectares. It was also reported that the fire had destroyed trees between 100 and 120 years old and that there were still a lot of glowing and fallen trees in the Bükk after the incident, which is why the area is still under surveillance. In addition, several hectares of forest and spruce were severely damaged.
Now a reader of Index has reported what he experienced on the spot. He said that he was hiking in the Bükk Hills with a relative on Friday afternoon and was the first to report the fire, which he spotted at half-past two in the afternoon and took several pictures of.
According to the reader, the fire started in a small meadow and slowly spread from there to the forest. According to him, the fire “could have been easily extinguished at that time, but the firefighters were slow to arrive on the scene.”
He added that the fire was already visible from Jávorkút at midnight and was finally contained, mainly due to a shower that arrived at 2 a.m.
“If it hadn’t been for the rain, the fire would have gone as far as Miskolc,” he said, adding that he thought the whole forest fire could have been prevented if the meadow fire had been taken seriously.
The fire was finally extinguished at dawn on Saturday.
Source and videos via Index
Featured image: illustration via Noah Berger/MTI/AP