Environment Ministry: Bulgaria is the EU country most affected by fires in 2024- 2025
Bulgaria is the EU country most affected by fires for 2024–2025, the Environment Ministry said in a Facebook post on July 25.
Over the past two years, Bulgaria has reported an alarming trend: 38 000 sq m covered by fires, which puts the country in first place in the European Union, the ministry said.
The damage is estimated at more than 2.5 million euro, it said.
Climate change and human negligence create the conditions for the perfect storm for fires: high temperatures, less precipitation, strong winds and human negligence.
There are no spontaneous fires – behind every fire there is a human hand, disaster statistics show, according to the ministry.
The most common causes of fires are a fire left burning after a picnic; a discarded cigarette butt in dry vegetation; cleaning by burning waste; sparks from malfunctioning equipment, the ministry said.
Since the beginning of July, there have been between 150 and 200 fires a day, Alexander Dzhartov, director of the General Directorate for Fire Safety and Population Protection, told bTV.
On July 24, there were 157 fires.
“It is striking that since the beginning of the month, there have been between 150 and 200 fires per day, depending on whether there is wind, which suggests a complication of the situation, that is, of the fires themselves, and then we attract additional teams from other services and structures, including helicopters,” Dzhartov said.
Since the beginning of the month, just more than 4500 fires have been registered, which is 300 more than last year, he said.
(Photo: Bulgaria’s Defence Ministry, which for several consecutive days has been assisting in firefighting)
