Heroes of the Karst fire - Team Slovenia’s loudest supporters

On Friday, Slovenia started their campaign at the 2022 FIVB Men’s Volleyball World Championship on home soil by recording a sound 3-0 win against Cameroon. The Slovenians enjoyed much support from the stands, including from 1,500 firefighters and members of other intervention services that the home heroes had invited to the match to thank them for all their efforts in extinguishing a major fire that broke out in Karst region a month ago.

At the end of July, a huge fire was raging on the Slovenian-Italian border. Professional and volunteer firefighters from all over the country were helping in the Karst region, trying to save lives, nature and protect property. One of the first ones to offer help was Dejan Vinčić, Team Slovenia’s setter. He contacted the firefighters and offered the help of the national team that had just started with their preparations for the World Championship. Dejan and his teammates were willing to help in any possible way. Of course, it was too dangerous to engage actively with the rescue, but they found another way to contribute.

First, they donated a signed Vinčič’s team jersey for an auction to raise money in order to buy equipment to replace the one destroyed in the fire. Later, they invited all the heroes to their first World Championship match in Ljubljana as a gesture of gratitude for their selfless help in fighting the biggest fire in Slovenia’s history.

The firefighters were obviously happy with this opportunity. One of them expressed their joy:

The firefighters thanked Team Slovenia with loud support from the stands. It all resulted in a true Volleyball fairy-tale.