Between 8 and 9 July, Croatia's fire services recorded 93 separate firefighting interventions in a single 24-hour window, deploying more than 400 firefighters and 128 fire engines. Weeks later, in one reporting period alone, 117 incidents required 508 firefighters and 137 vehicles nationwide. Croatia's islands, Vis, Brač, Korčula, Mljet, Čiovo, have each seen major wildfires this summer, and its firefighters are now also flying missions abroad, in France's Bordeaux region, while defending their own coastline at home.

An Adriatic fire season running on repeat since June

Croatia's Chief Fire Commander, Slavko Tucaković, confirmed that fire crews responded to a series of major wildfires across the Adriatic during the country's first big heatwave of the summer, which began June 20 and lasted nearly two weeks before easing in early July, one of the longest heatwaves the country has recorded in recent years. That heatwave alone drove the intervention numbers above: 93 incidents and over 400 firefighters mobilized on July 8 to 9, then a further 400-plus firefighters, 160 engines and three aircraft the following day.

The pattern repeated through the rest of July. A large wildfire broke out on Vis near Komiža, mobilizing 70 firefighters and 15 vehicles from the island's two brigades overnight. On Korčula, a fire between Smokvica and Blato triggered a full-island mobilization plus mainland reinforcements from Orebić, Kuna, Trpanj, Putnikovići, Metković, Dubrovnik and Konavle, backed by two Canadair CL-415 aircraft. On Brač, a fire near Pučišća required 17 firefighters and seven engines from four volunteer brigades, part of a 24-hour period nationwide that logged 118 interventions and 530 firefighters.

Kollder deploys in under 2 minutes. Built for field use in extreme conditions.

Request a quote →

Island geography multiplies the exertional heat stroke risk

What distinguishes Croatia's fire risk from a mainland wildfire season is terrain and access. Island brigades, often volunteer units with limited crew depth, are first on scene and frequently work without immediate reinforcement, since additional resources have to cross by ferry or arrive by aircraft. Commander Tucaković has repeatedly warned that even a single spark, a discarded cigarette, glass, garden waste burning, can ignite fast-spreading fires in the dry vegetation and open terrain typical of the Dalmatian islands.

For the firefighters on those lines, this means longer individual exposure before relief arrives, in turnout gear that limits evaporative cooling, on terrain with no fixed water infrastructure nearby, and often on exposed coastal or scrubland ground with no shade cover. These are the same physiological stressors driving exertional heat stroke cases in France and Spain this season, compounded here by the logistics of island firefighting, where a rehab sector and cooling equipment cannot simply be trucked in from the next town.

The same protocol, on terrain that makes it harder to deliver

The ACSM Expert Consensus Statement 2023 and IOC guidance (Hosokawa Y, Racinais S et al., BJSM 2021) require cold water immersion to begin on scene, before transport, bringing core temperature below 39°C within 30 minutes of collapse. Casa et al. (Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, 2007) measured this method's cooling rate at 0.35°C per minute, about ten times faster than wet towels or ice packs, and the Korey Stringer Institute's dataset of over 401 cases treated this way shows a 100 percent survival rate when temperature drops below 40°C in that window.

The constraint is not the protocol, it is delivering it on an island brigade's resources: a crew of 17 to 35 firefighters, several kilometers from the nearest hospital, with reinforcements arriving by boat or air.

A tub that fits in the same vehicles already crossing by ferry

Kollder One was designed for exactly this kind of deployment gap. A stainless steel emergency cooling tub, set up by one responder in under 2 minutes, weighing 11.1 kg packed with Kollder Go, it travels in the same fire engines and light vehicles already being ferried to Vis, Korčula or Brač, without requiring a fixed medical post nearby. Croatian fire brigades and civil protection units equipping island stations ahead of the rest of the 2026 fire season can request a Kollder quote.

Further Reading

Sources: Total Croatia News, Croatian heatwave and wildfire coverage (July 3 and July 28, 2026); Croatia Week, Vis and Korčula wildfire reports (June 29 and July 11, 2026); CroatiaUnscripted, current wildfire and intervention reports (late July 2026); The Dubrovnik Times, Fire Chief wildfire warning (August 2026); ACSM Expert Consensus Statement 2023; IOC, Hosokawa Y, Racinais S et al., BJSM 2021; Casa DJ et al., Exercise and Sport Sciences Reviews, 2007; Korey Stringer Institute, Douglas Casa (UConn).

Kollder is the emergency cooling tub that deploys in under 2 minutes, anywhere.

Request a quote