„New firefighting equipment is currently being purchased. Moreover, there is more than there has ever been. Some of it is modern“. This was said by the Minister of the Interior Daniel Mitov at a briefing at the Council of Ministers on Wednesday.
According to him, the firefighting equipment is being renewed pursuant to a decision of the National Assembly from last year. 120 light-class and 37 heavy-class firefighting vehicles have been purchased. In addition, a public procurement procedure has been carried out for the supply of another 128 medium-class vehicles. The procedure is currently being appealed, but work on it continues.
The Minister also announced that the Swedish firefighting aircraft are already in Bulgaria and will remain in the country throughout August. „You know – August and September are critical“, emphasized Mitov.
According to him, the teams of the General Directorate “ Fire Safety and Population Protection“ are continuously responding to hundreds of signals. In recent days alone, the fire department has responded to nearly 400 signals, of which over 300 were for real fires.
In the most severely affected area - the one around Strumyani in Pirin, fire brigade teams, forest officials, volunteers and five helicopters are participating in controlling the fire. Thanks to their efforts, there is no danger to the villages, the minister said, adding that residents will soon be able to return to their homes.
Atanas Zapryanov also commented on the topic. “The Ministry of Defense has implemented the decision of the National Assembly, which the Minister of the Interior mentioned. We received 1 million leva under it. last year and purchased hooks and “bambi buckets” for our helicopter aviation, which doubled our extinguishing capabilities. We invested in the operation, repair and maintenance of the helicopters, which is done abroad. We are waiting for 1 helicopter to return from service. In 2026, we plan to increase the funds for more helicopters to be prepared, because they work best in our mountainous conditions”, commented the Minister of Defense.
He emphasized that all modules from the ground forces, the Navy and the Air Force are ready to assist in the extinguishing process. “In Strumyani, we have launched charging vehicles to charge the helicopters so that they do not have to fly to the bases”, informed Zapryanov.