Large-Scale Wildfires Erupt in Southern Bulgaria

Several large-scale wildfires erupted in Southern Bulgaria on Tuesday, adding to the worries of the Bulgarian fire-fighting authorities across the country.

Over 250 acres of pine forest were on fire near the village of Babyak, Belitsa Municipality, in the southwestern District of Blagoevgrad Tuesday night, threatening a quarter of the village, BGNES reported, citing the district fire-fighting head Georgi Parmakov.

At the same time, another large wildfire was raging nearby in the Rila Mountain.

The Bulgarian fire-fighting service has asked the Defense Ministry to send in military helicopters in order to aid the fire-fighters.

Another large-scale wildfire was raging on 50 acres of pine forest near the village of Vetren, Maglizh Municipality, in Central Southern Bulgaria causing the temporary closure of a major north-south road.

In the past 24 hours, Bulgaria's fire-fighting service has had to tackle 326 fires of various intensity all over the country, the Interior Ministry said Tuesday night. On Monday, it issued a data released specifying that in just one week, Bulgaria had 807 wildfires.

The eruption of wildfires is largely stimulated by the hot and dry weather but also by the setting on fire of agricultural waste lying the fields after the harvesting of the crops – a practice that is still employed by many Bulgarian farmers.