At this stage, the fire on the territory of the “Rila“ National Park has affected 2600 acres. This was reported to BTA by the director of the park, Krasimir Andonov.
He specified that yesterday in the late afternoon there was local rain with hail. The rainfall was not much, but according to him, it helped significantly in stopping the spread of the fire during the night.
Since yesterday, a water line has been laid from the top in a southwesterly direction along the active front. Today, colleagues from the “Pirin“ National Park, fire department employees and forest officials are on the ground. We expect the military to also get involved. I think and hope that today we will be able to localize the fire, the park director also noted.
Yesterday, about 70 people worked to control the fire - firefighters, park employees, as well as colleagues from the State Forestry Administration (SFA) - Simitli. The director of the Regional Directorate "Fire Safety and Population Protection" in Blagoevgrad, Commissioner Valentin Vassilev, explained that the fire is at an altitude of between 1700 and 2000 meters. On one front, where work is being carried out, the extinguishing line is over a kilometer long, with water provided, which is supplied from the mountain ridge.
A few days ago, a Mi-17 helicopter with a crew from the 24th aviation base of the Air Force again joined the fire extinguishing.
The fire broke out on August 28 in Rila, in the area of the Simitli village of Dolno Osenovo.
Servicemen from the Land Forces are participating in extinguishing two large forest fires in Rila and Sakar, the press center of the Ministry of Defense announced. The formation for controlling and/or overcoming the consequences of disasters of the 3rd mechanized battalion of the Third Brigade Command joined the activities to control the large forest fire under Ismailitsa Peak, on the territory of the “Rila“ National Park. The group consists of 20 servicemen and is led by Senior Lieutenant Kamen Velkov. The servicemen are participating for another day in the fight against the fire on the territory of the Rila National Park at the request of the regional governor of Blagoevgrad Georgi Dinev, with the permission of the Chief of Defense Admiral Emil Eftimov and by order of the commander of the Land Forces, Major General Deyan Deshkov.
In the Haskovo region, a module from the 31st battalion consisting of 22 servicemen is participating in extinguishing the large fire that has been burning since yesterday in the land of the village of Lisovo, Svilengrad Municipality. The servicemen are acting at the request of the Main Directorate of Fire Safety and Population Protection - Ministry of Internal Affairs.