Firefighters overloaded: fires erupt in Balkans

Over the past ten days, many areas in Bulgaria have been engulfed by flames. The population is reporting for fires through the “app BG Alert”. So far there are no reports of injuries. But many have lost their homes. As in the village of Rani Lug, in western Bulgaria, on the border with Serbia, where nearly all houses were destroyed by flames.

They had no chance to fight the flames, says one villager: “It was hell!” Everything was burning, eight houses around us were destroyed. The firemen were overloaded; the fire was over three meters high. There were many volunteers, but what could they do with shovels and ten liters of water in their canons? The village was burned. The houses were destroyed. Everything was burned”

Badly Armed Firemen

Meanwhile, the situation has calmed somewhat -- more than 150 fires have been extinguished throughout Bulgaria. However, two major fires in the southwestern country are still not under control. A volunteer fireman in Rani Lug believes fires in his region can resume at any moment and believes his team is poorly equipped.

It's a tragedy! I've never seen anything like it. I've been in all the fires, but I've never seen anything like it. And here, there will be fire for another month. “ “If there's water, we will fight all night, no problem. But we have to bring water from 15 kilometers away, it shows.

EU Assistance

Because Bulgarian firefighters are overloaded, Bulgaria has sought assistance from the EU. Five helicopters from Slovakia, Hungary, France, the Czech Republic and Romania are participating in fire extinguish operations, and another is expected from Sweden, reports DW, Transmitton Periscope.

Northern Macedonia, Bulgaria's neighbour, has also sought EU assistance. Slovenia is sending 50 firefighters to this small Balkan country, which has only two operational aircraft for water bombing. Fires have erupted there for several days, as have Albania.

Forest Fire season away from the end

And the season of forest fires is far from over, notes Alexander Dzartow, head of Bulgaria's civil protection: “We continue to work on the ground, creating new cleaning spaces, fighting fires wherever possible from the ground and providing air support by using helicopters. Unfortunately, weather forecast is extremely unfavourable. There will again be strong winds, which will constantly change from north to south and south to north, which significantly complicates the extinguishing of fires. ”

In recent years, Bulgaria has been the EU country most affected by forest fires in terms of the surface. Nearly 40,000 hectares have been burned in two years, and 15,000 hectares have already been destroyed this year. According to the Interior Ministry, most fires are caused by negligence or criminal acts. Two people have already been arrested. /Periscope