A wildfire that engulfed around 150 hectares of forest on Mount Trstelj in the Kras region in western Slovenia has been localised and is fully under control.

"We currently have the fire fully under control," said Blaž Rogelja, the commander of the Komen volunteer fire brigade, said on 19 July, a day after the fire broke out.

Around 480 firefighters are on the ground, and an additional 70 members of other emergency services. Rogelja expects the firefighters will be kept busy at least until Saturday.

The weather currently works in their favour, after the effort was hampered by heat and a strong wind. Some rain is forecast for the night too.

Prime Minister Robert Golob, who also stands in as defence minister, inspected the situation on the ground, thanking everyone involved in the effort.

"We learned a lot from the previous fires and now we have an effective system," he said in reference to the deployment of new firefighting aircraft, new communication equipment, drones and upgrade of the regional water supply system.

Two Air Tractors were used for the first time since they were purchased last year and they have proved instrumental in delivering large amounts of water in the early stages of the fire.

Also helping in were the army and police helicopters and an unmanned aerial vehicle, which was also used over the night to identify individual hotspots, which firefighters tackled.

"The combination of the Air Tractors and helicopters is ideal, as the aircraft dump a compact quantity of water, and helicopters are then used to put out small hotspots," said army pilot Matija Zupančič, who coordinates the aerial effort.

Mount Trstelj is located in a densely forested plateau that has received very little rain over the past month, while the two-week heatwave has made drought conditions even worse.

The fire comes two years after the Kras region was hit by the most devastating blaze in the country's history, which engulfed some 3,700 hectares of forest and bush.

The unexploded ordnance unit was also called in this time. Its commander Darko Zonjič said that a 75mm shell exploded on the first day, and that two hand grenades also supposedly exploded over the night.