A total of ten passenger cars were completely destroyed, and another three were affected in two fires that occurred within a few minutes in Sofia. The incidents occurred in the early hours of September 9 in the neighboring neighborhoods of "Lagera" and "Hippodruma", NOVA reported.
“The case is being investigated as a case of deliberate arson, and there have already been arrests”, the mayor of the "Krasno Selo" district, Tsveta Nikolaeva, announced on social networks. She stressed that the investigation is continuing to clarify all the circumstances surrounding the incident.
The first signal was filed at 01:57 a.m. for a fire in the residential area “Hippodruma”. Two fire trucks with eight employees from 06 RSPBZN were sent to the scene. Despite the intervention of the teams, four cars were completely burned out, and two others were seriously affected by the flames.
“At around 2:30 a.m. last night I woke up to the loud explosions from these cars. I looked and saw that everything was burning”, eyewitness Stefan Gekov told NOVA. According to him, the police and fire brigade teams arrived very quickly, blocked off traffic and extinguished the fire in both locations in about 15-20 minutes.
Only thirteen minutes later - at 02:10, a report of burning cars was received in the “Lager” residential area. Three fire brigades with a total of 11 employees from 03 and 01 RSPBZN were sent to control the fire. Six cars were destroyed in this incident, and one was damaged.
According to Nikolaeva, damage was also caused to the surrounding environment, with pavements and trees burned, but the facades of the residential buildings were not affected.
According to information from the neighborhood, children noticed and filmed the incident, and have already given statements to the police. They reported a car with a Plovdiv registration plate, in which there were boys and girls. According to them, the young people were carrying flammable liquid, which they poured over the cars.
The SDVR reported that the reasons for the outbreak of flames in both places have not yet been clarified, but the version of deliberate arson is also being investigated.