The Director of the General Directorate "Fire Safety and Population Protection" Chief Commissioner Alexander Dzhartov, who came to the scene in the Plovdiv village of Pesnopoy, told journalists that about 600 firefighters are on the ground fighting the flames that have engulfed the country.
"After 4:00 p.m. the situation began to complicate extremely quickly in a large part of the southern part of the country, starting with Pazardzhik, Plovdiv, Sliven, Yambol, Kardzhali, Haskovo, Burgas. We practically do not have an area where we currently have free teams, so due to the strong wind, every ignition develops into an extremely severe fire. In most cases, colleagues managed to prevent these fires from entering populated areas. We have isolated cases in which uninhabited buildings burn down, mainly. The strong wind simply makes our work extremely difficult".
20 people were evacuated from the villa area of the Plovdiv village of Pesnopoy, which occurred in the late afternoon. Regional Governor Hristina Yancheva activated the BG Alert population warning system.
The mayor of Straldzha municipality Atanas Kirov declared a partial state of emergency in four populated areas - the town of Straldzha and the villages of Malenovo, Atolovo and Nedyalsko due to the fires that broke out in the area, BTA reported. Extinguishing the fire is extremely difficult due to the strong gusts of wind. In places in Straldzha there are also fallen trees. The fire between the villages of Malenovo and Atolovo is on a very large front. Mostly stubble is burning, but there are also affected vineyard areas and fields. There is no danger that the fire near the town of Straldzha will reach the outer houses. All available firefighting teams and equipment from the region have been mobilized. A team from Burgas region has also arrived to help, said Tatyana Pavlova, spokesperson for the Yambol Regional Police Directorate.