A military helicopter "Cougar" joined the fight against the fire in the "Central Balkan" National Park. The fire extinguishing continues for the seventh day over the village of Anton, reports bTV.
Grass and resinous vegetation are burning. The fire is almost at the top, and the terrain is difficult to access.
Teams are loading hoses, shovels and water. Volunteers are heading to the fire high in the mountain.
In places, there is almost no road and you have to walk on stones. The road continues through a stream and between trees.
This is the closest point to the fire by vehicle. From there, every firefighter and volunteer must walk along with equipment to reach the fire.
Todor Ivanov has been helping to fight the fire for the seventh day.
„The situation is not good. I just don't know. They will come, take the hoses and climb them up the line to reach the furthest point. Water is being released from above. From the ridge down. Otherwise, there is no way up from here. The road is very difficult to access. That's it. Up there now, only on foot“, says Todor Ivanov.
25 firefighters, employees of the „Central Balkan“ National Park, as well as volunteers from the municipality are on the ground. The fire is being monitored by a drone, and in the late afternoon a helicopter is also involved in extinguishing it.
„The fire is not localized. It is developing in small parts of the perimeter. Since yesterday we have poured about 40 tons of water along the perimeter. It is difficult to extinguish the resinous vegetation“, says Senior Commissioner Georgi Ivanov, Director of the Regional Directorate “Fire Safety and Population Protection“ – Sofia.
The main version of the fire is human error.
„It was 100% a discarded cigarette. We found about 100 butts at the scene. The people we found at the time the fire started were picking blueberries“, says Andrey Simov, Mayor of the Anton Municipality.
The affected area is over 100 acres.