More than one hundred forest fires have been registered since the beginning of the year on the territory of the Southwest State Enterprise. The incendiaries on our border with Northern Macedonia is increasing.

Nearly 5,000 decares of forest are affected by fires so far, with rapid response preventing more serious damage. The main cause of the ignitions in the forests remains the human negligence in the handling of fire, said the director of the enterprise Damyan Damyanov to the Bulgarian National Radio.

Expected high temperatures, lush grassland and the presence of many tourists in the mountains increase the risk of fires.

In recent months there has been an increase in fires along the border with northern Macedonia, and most of them affect the Bulgaria side too. "This year many fires came from the Macedonian side, especially in the Strumyani area - there were at least 4-5 fires," Damyanov explained.

The state forestry company reminds that the envisaged sanction for fire outside the regulated places in the forests and less than one hundred meters from the border of the forest territories, is 500 BGN.