EU, Türkiye send help as Bulgaria battles blazes amid heatwave, strong winds
The European Union and Türkiye have sent help as Bulgaria continues to battle hundreds of wildfires amid high temperatures and strong winds.
Bulgaria’s Interior Ministry said on July 26 that it had requested the European Commission to activate the EU Civil Protection Mechanism to help fight the wildfires, and on July 27, firefighting helicopters arrived from Hungary, Slovakia and France.
On July 28, a helicopter was expected to arrive from Sweden, as well as two fixed-wing aircraft.
Türkiye’s Edirne and Kırklareli governorates sent assistance on Saturday when a large-scale fire erupted in the village of Lesovo in the Yambol district, leading to the evacuation of the village.
In recent days, with Bulgaria hit by a continuing heatwave amid drought conditions and strong winds, there have been several hundred fires daily. Many have been attributed to human negligence, such as dropping still-burning cigarettes.
Some have been the result of arson. National Police General Directorate Head Zahari Vaskov told reporters on July 28 that two people had been arrested and charged with arson in Veliko Turnovo and in Sliven. The charge of arson was subsequently amended to that of terrorism.
The Interior Ministry said on July 28 that 269 fires had been extinguished in the past 24 hours.
Over the past weekend, the BG-Alert system was activated several times in places including Bourgas and Plovdiv, sending messages to mobile phones about the risk of fires and the soaring temperatures. In Plovdiv, the message included an appeal not to discard still-burning cigarettes or to make fires in the open.
While the Code Red warning of the highest degree of danger from hot weather was issued on consecutive days over the weekend, Bulgaria’s meteorological bureau issued for July 28 the Code Orange warning of dangerous weather for some districts and the lesser Code Yellow for several others.
On July 28, the districts subject to the Code Orange warning because of high temperatures included Bourgas, Yambol, Sliven, Haskovo and Kurdzhali.
The districts subject to the Code Yellow warning included Varna, Dobrich, Silistra, Razgrad, Turgovishte, Stara Zagora, Plovdiv, Smolyan, Razgrad and Blagoevrad. The remaining districts were classified Code Green, meaning that no weather warning is in place.
The meteorological bureau said that on July 29, clouds would gather over northern Bulgaria and the mountains, with short-term rain, thunderstorms and possibly hail in many places.
Maximum temperatures on July 29 will be between 28° and 33°, still higher in the southeastern regions.
On July 30, it will remain windy. Sunny weather will prevail, after noon cumulus clouds will develop in southern and eastern Bulgaria, and there will be showers and thunder in places. Temperatures in the far south-eastern regions of Bulgaria will also drop, the bureau said.
(Photo: Interior Ministry)
