The Bulgarian state is quite consciously sabotaging the fight against fires. I say this quite responsibly. This was stated by the leader of "Vazrazhdane" Kostadin Kostadinov on the sidelines of parliament.
Last year there was the same situation in the country. Then, when I asked what equipment Bulgaria has to extinguish fires, I was told that we have two adapted helicopters. When asked how long it would take to buy new equipment and how much money was needed, the answer was that helicopters would take from a year to a year and a half, and airplanes from a year and a half to two. The question was whether there was money, the answer was that there was no money, he explained.
A year later the situation is the same. We have no progress in the set of equipment, no order has been placed. We asked to hear the Prime Minister on this topic, but the proposal was rejected. The Bulgarian state is quite consciously sabotaging the fight against fires, Kostadinov pointed out.
Climate change shows that our country is suffering from something similar. It is becoming an epidemic. There are also cases of deliberately set fires, which is why we have submitted a proposal to increase the punishment for arsonists. Against this background, not purchasing equipment is a crime. And they do it consciously because they can and have the money set aside, he added.
In his words, such large-scale fires have not happened. "When such fires happened years ago, the army was mobilized. They used live force to destroy the fires. Now we do not have an army and we cannot send soldiers. Since we had no army, we resorted to the help of Russia, because it is the closest country with enormous capabilities. Now we cannot ask for help from them, because we have ruined our relations. We are waiting for help from Sweden, which is six times the distance. They lied to us that four helicopters from the EU would come. First one came, I don't know if the others came, but last night they evacuated a village. We cannot withdraw manpower, we cannot ask for help from the closest one - Russia. The only thing left for us is to watch us burn," added Kostadin Kostadinov.