Large fires over 300 acres are 55% less this year, the director of the General Directorate “Fire Safety and Population Protection” (GDPBZN), Chief Commissioner Alexander Dzhartov, told journalists after the ceremony on the occasion of the professional holiday of GDPBZN employees.
We are getting better every year, we also have many partners and this is all visible in the field. In addition to firefighters, there are many volunteers, foresters, military personnel, local authorities, agricultural producers - all together we manage to reduce the number of fires, Chief Commissioner Dzhartov commented.
Chief Commissioner Dzhartov pointed out that the fire department has received new equipment. 3,000 sets of firefighting clothing, 22 rescue equipment in the event of accidents, four forest fire extinguishing systems, he added and noted that drones are now a mandatory element for controlling large fires. Drones were also used to inspect the fire in the warehouse of "EMKO".
We expect about 300 fire engines, deliveries are pending. On September 21, we expect six fire engines, which is part of the process of updating equipment, Chief Commissioner Dzhartov also said.
This year, the areas affected by forest fires are six times smaller compared to the previous 2025, said the Minister of Internal Affairs Ivan Demerdzhiev at the ceremony on the occasion of the professional holiday of the General Directorate "Fire Safety and Protection of the Population" (GDPBZN).
The Minister stated that this year the fight against fires has been more successful. There has been a 21% decrease in the overall statistics of incidents. During the fire season in 2025, 14,588 fires occurred in the country, this year there are 3,000 fewer. This is not dry statistics, this is the result of your efforts, the Minister said.
Demerdzhiev noted that this year the drones have helped a lot in establishing the scale of the fires and planning actions.
We will continue the fight to provide you with better and better technical support, to have better and better coordination between the various departments and I believe that these efforts will yield more and more results, the Minister also said.