Brač fire, status 13 Sept 2026: Milna defended, 200 evacuated, new fires

Status as of Sunday 13 September 2026, evening. The fire that started above Ložišća late on 10 September had been active for two days when, on Saturday evening, the bura strengthened and pushed the front south-west, out of the scrub above Ložišća and Bobovišća and down towards the coast west of Milna. Between 23:00 and the early hours the flames reached the bays of Duboka, Lučice and Osibova, where holiday houses, bungalows and a resort stand right on the water. At 23:22 the national alert system SRUUK sent an SMS warning to everyone in the municipality of Milna. A firefighter told Dnevnik he had never seen a fire spread so fast.

Evacuation by sea

No general evacuation was ordered, but the people caught in the bays and on the beaches were taken off by water: boats of the Split harbour master's office, two tugs, the maritime police and private boat owners carried more than 200 residents and tourists, most of them foreign nationals, to Milna and on to shelter in Supetar, Postira and Bol. The harbour master's boats and the volunteers ran back and forth until the coves were empty. By Sunday morning most of the evacuated had returned to their accommodation, the chief fire commander Slavko Tucaković said. Two people were hurt and treated by the emergency services; nobody died and no firefighter was injured.

What burned

The firefighters' own account is that most of the threatened houses were saved: the Croatian Firefighting Association (HVZ) lists only the auxiliary buildings of the Gava resort as burned. Local reporters in the bays on Sunday morning saw a different scale of loss, holiday bungalows in Osibova burned out, some houses destroyed and others with scorched facades and roofs. The county's estimate of the burned area rose overnight: Nikola Martinić Dragan, commander of the Supetar volunteer brigade, put it at about 3,500 hectares of pine forest, scrub, macchia and farmland on Sunday morning, more than twice the figure HVZ had published on Friday. In the night 223 firefighters with 69 vehicles were on the line, at the peak 235 with 68, brought in from Brač, Split, Trogir, Kaštela, Omiš and Makarska and from the counties of Šibenik-Knin, Dubrovnik-Neretva, Zadar, Istria, Primorje-Gorski kotar and Lika-Senj. From first light four Canadair CL-415 and three Air Tractor Fire Boss aircraft flew.

Sunday: a meeting in Milna, and two new fires

On Sunday Deputy Prime Minister Tomo Medved, Tourism Minister Tonči Glavina and chief fire commander Slavko Tucaković met the county prefect and the mayors of Brač in the maritime heritage centre in Milna. Tucaković said that by the afternoon there was no more open flame on the main fire, that it remained dangerous, and that the forces stay on the island. Milna's mayor Frane Lozić confirmed that the evacuation had been organised without loss of life. The minister said the government will help tourists get home and the municipality rebuild. While they met, a new fire broke out at 14:30 in the pine forest above Bol, on the far side of the island, in ground too rough for vehicles; two Canadairs were sent and no buildings were threatened. At about 16:15 a third fire started on the mainland near Sevid, between Trogir and Rogoznica, in grass and macchia, with the Šibenik professional brigade, volunteer units, a Canadair and an Air Tractor on it into the evening. In Kaštel Sućurac, meanwhile, a warehouse of a garden centre burned in the afternoon and the police closed Dr. Franje Tuđmana street through the town.

If you are on Brač or going there

• Ferries: Jadrolinija's notices carry no change for the Brač lines as of Sunday evening; Split to Supetar and Makarska to Sumartin sail to timetable, and the boats that ran the evacuation were extra, not scheduled services. If you were evacuated, ask at your accommodation or the tourist board in Milna about the help the ministry announced.
• Roads: HAK's report at 19:35 on Sunday lists no closure on Brač, but the roads from Nerežišća towards Ložišća, Bobovišća and Milna were closed during the night and can be closed again whenever the wind turns. Do not drive into the western part of the island to look.
• Milna, Bobovišća na Moru and the bays between them are the fire ground now: burned ground, unstable trees and hoses on the paths. The Blaca hermitage stays closed to walkers until the fire is declared out.
• Bol, Supetar, Sutivan, Postira, Pučišća and Sumartin are open and working; the new fire above Bol was in inaccessible forest without threat to the town on Sunday. Expect smoke on the wind and check the HVZ report before a day trip.
• The bura is forecast to continue. No open fire anywhere outdoors, no drone near the aircraft, 193 for the fire brigade, 112 for everything else. If you receive an SRUUK alert on your phone, do what it says and move towards the sea, not inland.

Elsewhere the week's fires are out: Trpanj on Pelješac was extinguished at 06:00 on 12 September after one hectare, and the fire at Željava in Lika was put out by rain. This report follows our status of 12 September; the next one comes when the Brač fire is declared extinguished or when Bol or Sevid change the picture.