The fight against the flames continues in the high part of Rila in the Rila Monastery Nature Park, Nova TV reports. The fire is 2,000 meters above sea level in difficult-to-reach terrain.
On Monday, volunteers, firefighters and two helicopters managed to extinguish most of the fire. The machines are drawing water from the equalizer of the Rila Hydroelectric Power Plant near the city. The disaster has covered over 50 acres of area in a pine forest. The most likely cause of the ignition is a lightning strike that fell in the area nearly a month ago.
The fire is quite large, it is not yet under control,” said Zdravko Velinov, a volunteer in the extinguishing. He explained that it is not extinguished at night because it is dangerous.
„Peat is burning below the surface. A large part of the fire is underground. Colleagues inspected the terrain with a drone. There is a lot of work”, he explained. „Peat fires are burning underground and huge tree trunks. On the surface we only see smoke, we do not see fire. And below it can burn 1-1.5 meters”, Velinov explained.
According to him, the terrain is almost vertical and we are working very carefully so that no one gets hurt.
„We are extinguishing the fire with shovels, digging up and burying the peat layer. The only way to have water above is with helicopters. We are guiding them where to throw water”, Velinov said.