On October 24, WWF representatives and supporters of the organization submitted to the registry of the Council of Ministers (CM) a petition on behalf of over 13,500 people for the purchase of specialized firefighting aircraft. WWF Bulgaria opened the petition for signatures at the end of July, urging people to send an email to the Prime Minister with an appeal to implement the decision of the National Assembly (NA) of 23.07.2024. The CM “to take the necessary planning and financing actions for the purchase of specialized firefighting aircraft for the needs of the Ministry of Interior.“ Within days, the petition collected over 13,000 signatures. However, the Council of Ministers has not yet taken steps in this direction, despite the decision of the National Assembly, public pressure and the burning of over 30,000 hectares of forests and other areas this year alone.
„Every year we lose thousands of hectares of forests due to forest fires and the situation will become increasingly serious due to climate change. With forecasts of ever-increasing risks to nature, property, health and people's lives, the state cannot rely on foreign help. Disasters happen every summer. Political will and readiness to respond are necessary. Specialized aviation equipment is key to this readiness and has proven effectiveness in global practice.“ This was stated by Vesselina Kavrakova, Executive Director of WWF Bulgaria.
Currently, Bulgaria does not have specialized helicopters or airplanes for extinguishing forest fires and, if necessary, relies on the available „Cougar“ helicopters and “Mi-17“ of the Ministry of Defense (MOD), as well as machines provided through the EU Civil Protection Mechanism. But activating the Mechanism takes time, and one of the key factors in controlling a forest fire is precisely the rapid response.
A painful example from this summer is the fire in Pirin. It lasted more than a month and burned tens of thousands of acres, mainly forests. Its suppression required the involvement of aircraft from Sweden, helicopter crews from several countries, helicopters of the Bulgarian Air Force, etc. According to an estimate by the Southwestern State Enterprise, the economic losses from it amount to over 16 million leva, and this amount does not include the environmental and social damage, which is difficult to estimate. Restoring the forest will take 4-5 decades, but in places it will probably be impossible.
WWF's call for the purchase of specialized aircraft is based on the results of a WWF analysis from May 2025. Although its main recommendations are related to the need for better prevention and coordination between institutions, it also makes it clear that Bulgaria is in dire need of specialized aircraft.
“Specialized aircraft are key to quickly controlling peak fires in hard-to-reach terrain, where ground equipment often cannot reach. Its water-carrying capacity is about 2-4 times greater than that of helicopters adapted for this purpose. This saves time, the number of water refueling trips, and personnel costs“, said Dobromir Dobrinov, senior expert “Nature Protection Legislation“ in WWF Bulgaria.
Bulgaria lags significantly behind its southern neighbors Greece and Turkey in terms of readiness to extinguish fires from the air in a timely manner, the WWF report shows. Greece, for example, has 90 aircraft and helicopters for extinguishing fires, while Turkey has − 26 aircraft and 105 helicopters.
The need for specialized aircraft has been recognized by institutions for a long time. Its purchase was planned, but not implemented, within the framework of the Operational Program “Environment“ (OPE) 2007-2013, OPE 2021-2027 and the National Recovery and Resilience Plan (NRRP). Within the framework of OPE 2021-2027, three institutions stand behind the idea: the Ministry of Environment and Waters (MEW), the General Directorate “Fire Safety and Protection of the Population“ and the Executive Forestry Agency (EFA). According to them, combining the EFA's early warning system with firefighting helicopters would improve fire prevention and response, and out of season the machines could be used for border control, rescue operations and other tasks, increasing the experience of the crews. However, the ideas failed due to a lack of agreement on which institution would be responsible for the equipment.
WWF Bulgaria continues to work on the topic in the long term by preparing expert analyses and campaigns to raise people's awareness of the main causes of forest fires - in over 90% of cases, human negligence is the root cause. The organization will also monitor developments with the purchase of specialized aircraft.