Today, the number of fires exceeded 150. There is no direct danger to the population. In order to be more cautious, we warned the two villages in Ustrem and Srem in Haskovo with BG-Alert. Unfortunately, the strong wind reignited the fire. This was stated by the advisor to the Minister of the Interior Nikolay Nikolov in the program “From the Day“ on BNT, quoted by novini.bg.
Two helicopters had to be involved in extinguishing the fire, he specified.
The worst fire is in Strumyani. The forest fund is affected. Four helicopters are extinguishing the fire. Helicopter extinguishing had to be interrupted due to an expected storm. Only a strong wind blew, Nikolov explained.
To date, according to statistics, the areas destroyed by fires are six times less than last year. This year is not the worst, he explained, referring to statistical data.
The destruction of houses by fires is attributed to the fact that villages are depopulated and people do not maintain their yards. Agricultural activity did not allow the fire to enter the villages, Nikolay Nikolov explained.
Preventive activity begins at the beginning of the season, he emphasized.
We are not to blame for the burned houses. In this case, we are talking about a disaster, not an accident. The residents who complain that we have not helped them are right, but at the same time another is grateful because we have helped him.
To extinguish fires from the air, you need to have similar equipment. Bulgaria has four helicopters. This equipment extinguishes, then is repaired. Extinguishing fires from the air is very expensive, but also effective. We must have such capabilities, Nikolov is categorical.
We have been waiting for air help to deal with the fires for the third day. However, the situation in the Balkans is extremely difficult. If the most famous firefighting aircraft is ordered now - at the earliest it will be ready in 8 years. We are talking about 800 million.