Helicopters from Romania and the Czech Republic will participate in firefighting near Stara Zagora

More than 200 people are involved in suppressing the wildfire near Stara Zagora on July 16. The partial state of emergency remains in force.

The fire was stopped literally next to people's villa houses. A team of firefighters and volunteers found themselves stranded for hours in one of the fire's outbreaks, but no one has been injured.

"We stayed uphill but the fire spread behind us. We are now in the pine forest and we stayed trapped there and waited for the fire to finish so we could go back," explained Alexander Mechev, a volunteer.

"There are various outbreaks. All night, firefighting teams, state forestry employees, the army, police and many volunteers assisted in the work and the efforts to contain the fire. There was literally a human shield between the firefighters, the volunteers, between the fire and people's homes," said Nikolay Dikov - Secretary of the Municipality of Stara Zagora.

Two helicopters from the 24th Air Base - Krumovo of the Air Force also took part in the extinguishing today.

"The most important is to contain the fire and subsequently, eventually, to identify the perpetrator. For the moment, there are no settlements in danger, as well as people in distress. Firefighters, volunteers, forestry officials and municipal employees are working within the affected perimeter. We have activated the EU civil protection mechanism. We currently have a response and confirmation from the Czechs, who will send two helicopters. We are also waiting for confirmation from our Romanian colleagues," said caretaker Minister of Interior Kalin Stoyanov.

The caretaker Prime Minister also arrived to get aware of the situation in area. Dimitar Glavchev announced that a task force will start working today to coordinate the work on combatting forest fires.

"For even better coordination and for people to be reassured that we are taking measures on time and if it is necessary, and it will certainly be, we will meet with the mayors of the settlements who will say after all this is put out, if there is anything additional they need,” he said.

Tonight, teams will remain on duty around the perimeter of the fire to make sure the fire does not move to unburned areas.

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