August 3, 2020 - Shortly after 1 pm, a fire in Split was reported on the famous Riva.

Police say a report arrived that two motorcycles were burning at the southern entrance to the basements of Diocletian's Palace. Eyewitnesses say that the electric scooter caught fire and that the fire spread to the other vehicles.

Slobodna Dalmacija reported that the thick smoke spread in all directions. Ivan Kovacevic, the commander of JVP Split, said that details will be announced later. Eyewitnesses testify that six or seven engines burned, and there is considerable damage.

Dalmacija Danas reports that flames also affected nearby palm trees, and the terrace of a nearby cafe was also damaged. JVP Split firefighters rushed to the intervention and quickly extinguished the fire. The cleaning of the Riva is in progress.

"At one point there was smoke in the air. We realized that the engines on the Riva had caught fire. The flames engulfed a dozen motorcycles and other parked motors that had already begun to melt. We moved one car so firefighters could approach to extinguish the fire. Firefighters arrived very quickly and everything was resolved in half an hour. The damage would have been much greater if we had not reacted quickly," said a man from Split who witnessed the event.

Interestingly, this fire broke out on the same date as last year’s fire at Peristyle. Recall, an apartment on the second floor caught fire, owned by the City of Split, where the Ivo Pilar Institute is located. With the quick intervention of firefighters, the fire was extinguished in no time.

Firefighters are at the scene, and the police will investigate the incident once the area is extinguished. 

More info soon...

Since no Croatian company applied to the tender, the job of cleaning up the areas hit by devastating fires near Split during the summer went to a business from Slovenia.

The Split expat community comes together to help those battling the blaze.