This summer was marked by high temperatures and devastating fires. People and their homes, farms suffered, and nature was most severely affected with thousands of acres of forests burned to the ground.
Some of the volunteers who tirelessly put out fires are those from the largest Bulgarian volunteer initiative for planting trees “Forest.BG”. Its creator is Nikola Rahnev.
“Traditionally, the southern regions, where it is drier, are the most affected. The most difficult are the fires that burn on steep slopes, where you can't reach with equipment, there are no roads," Nikola Rahnev explains to Nova TV.
“Forest.BG” as an organization has planted 5 million trees. It will continue its work where it makes the most sense, namely in burned areas, in places where there is the greatest need”, said Rahnev.
The flames last summer have covered hundreds of thousands of acres of forest territory, say the Executive Forestry Agency.
“90% of the fires that have entered forest territories are due to human activity”, explained Rosen Raichev, Deputy Executive Director of the Forestry Agency, “Control of Forest Territories and Their Protection from Fires”.
According to the agency's calculations, about 140-150 thousand acres have burned throughout the summer.
In low-level fires, only a destroyed grass area is burned and human intervention is not always necessary. But at the peaks, where everything has been burned, natural recovery is almost impossible.
„Initially, these areas are traversed. After a fire, for the next 5 years we keep statistics and a report and check them annually to see how they develop”, explained Rosen Raichev.
Depending on the conditions and the area, foresters choose appropriate tree species for planting.
“Coniferous forests burn faster and easier than deciduous ones”, explained Nikola Rahnev.
“We prefer deciduous tree species, which have a lower fire risk coefficient”, said Rosen Raichev.
Previously, nearly 90% of the planted trees were planted during afforestation, but due to worsening climatic conditions, the percentage has fallen. This requires replanting in some places, which delays the full recovery of forests after fires.
“Summer is extremely dry. This has repeatedly compromised the afforestation efforts. Plans are being developed for all forest areas to protect them from forest fires,” explained Rosen Raichev.
These plans include the construction of barrier fences, silvicultural fences, mineralized strips, the construction of helipads and reservoirs from which helicopters can refuel their tanks.
“We remove dry, damaged trees from the plantations, those that have begun to die due to natural causes. In this way, we also reduce the fuel substance”, explained Rosen Raichev.
As an additional preventive measure, a Center has been created at the Forestry Agency, where signals from the 112 telephone number arrive. This way, equipped teams are able to respond and control the situation.
“This is how the information reaches our employees the fastest”, explained Rosen Raichev.
Every year, information campaigns and trainings are held for the teams that extinguish fires. Additional measures have also been taken by the National Institute of Hydrology and Meteorology.
”On its official website, it publishes a map with a visualization of the risk of fires”, explained Raichev.
Every day during fire-dangerous days, they publish a color map that shows the dangers for the day and preventive measures are taken. And the volunteers from “Forest.BG% also continue to fight natural disasters.
“Over 1,000 people joined forces and together we raised about 200,000 leva, with which we are purchasing 5 fire engines”, explained Nikola Rahnev.
He says that they have to cover all the costs of the fire engines themselves - fuel, eco-taxi taxis, toll taxis, insurance.
“The state has not hindered us in any way, but it has not helped us in any way”, said Rahnev.
Nevertheless, he assures us that there are many volunteers. The reforestation period is from November to March and Rahnev says that they will plant 500 thousand saplings, mainly in burned areas from previous years, using drones, which is innovative for Bulgaria.