We are monitoring the fires in Harmanli and Pirin with increased attention - because of the difficult terrain and the strong wind in places, which appears in the afternoon hours. This was stated to BTV by the Director of the General Directorate “Fire Safety and Population Protection“ Alexander Dzhartov about the current state of fires in Bulgaria.
"We are trying to take into account the weather conditions - that is why we work mainly at night."
"Changing weather conditions affect us a lot."
We had complex fires in Balchik, Karnobat, said Dzhartov.
Every day we have 120 fires. Unfortunately, there is no trend towards a decrease, he added.
This year in July we had over 3,500 fires, compared to last June - there were under 3,000. This is a 20% increase.
"More difficult than putting out fires is getting people to stop starting them", revealed the Fire Chief.
Dzhartov also explained that it is everyday life for people, even unintentionally, to start fires: "More often, we adults are to blame - cigarettes, winter clothes, yard cleaning, agricultural machinery - these activities are carried out in the hottest part of the day".