A fire broke out late in the evening on driftwood at the Nova Drava bathing area, and campers who first tried to extinguish it had to retreat due to an aggressive individual suspected of starting the blaze. Firefighters remain on the scene.
Late in the evening, someone deliberately set fire to driftwood at the Nova Drava bathing area in Donji Miholjac, this is the suspicion raised by the Donji Miholjac Volunteer Fire Department, as reported by the portal Baranja Info, after citizens reported the fire around 11:30 PM. The intervention continued into the following day, largely due to the large amounts of dry material that made complete extinguishing difficult.
Sources differ on the exact date of the fire, Baranja Info reports that the fire broke out on Thursday, August 6, 2026, while Miholjstina Info states that everything happened a day earlier, on Tuesday, August 5, 2026. Despite this discrepancy, the time of the report is identical in both accounts: 11:30 PM, confirming that it was the same nighttime fire that unsettled Donji Miholjac.
Upon arrival, firefighters immediately began extinguishing and prevented further spread, bringing the fire under control and containing it. However, the operation did not end there.
Special thanks from the Donji Miholjac Volunteer Fire Department go to the young men camping at the bathing area who first noticed the flames. According to Baranja Info, they immediately tried to put out the fire themselves, but were prevented by the individual suspected of starting it, their aggressive behavior forced them to retreat for their own safety and wait for the police and firefighters to arrive.
The scene was dramatic: while the fire blazed, those who tried to contain it had to step back in the face of threats from the alleged perpetrator.
Miholjstina Info reports that firefighters were engaged in extinguishing and monitoring the fire site for several hours after the fire broke out. The affected area was around the "island," specifically dry logs and stumps, and the fire spread quickly due to the large amount of driftwood, the same detail is confirmed by Baranja Info, emphasizing that the operation continued even after containment precisely because of the abundance of dry material that constantly threatened to reignite.
Firefighters once again appealed to citizens not to light fires outdoors, especially during periods of drought and high temperatures when a fire can spread very quickly and cause serious consequences, an appeal that carries extra weight in this case, as it is not a matter of negligence but suspicion of arson.
