This is not Siberia or Amazon, but Veles.

A massive fire that erupted near Lake Mladost at noon today and in just three hours wiped out a fifty-year-old pine forest, one of the few we could enjoy in the surroundings of the city. The fire was caused/started by negligent workers, and the damage is immense and irreversible.

Is this another way for local Government official to clear the forest which will then be turned into residential complex / hotels, the way it was done in Ohrid?

But Government officials don’t seem too worried about the fire. Once the forest was wiped out, the army sent out a helicopter to be involved in putting out the fire. Others jokingly stated it may rain tomorrow and the fire would be gone.

The fire has also interrupted railroad traffic between Macedonia and Serbia.