Is There Air Pollution after the Fire at the Landfill in Shishmantsi?

A fire broke out early this morning, August 18, at the landfill near the village of Shishmantsi, Plovdiv district in Southern Bulgaria. The Regional Environmental Inspectorate is monitoring air quality in the area.

The blaze erupted around 5:30 a.m. at the non-hazardous waste facility in Shishmantsi, Rakovski Municipality. Four fire crews are working on site and have managed to contain the flames to an area of about 800 square metres, while bulldozers are covering the ground with soil to prevent the fire from spreading.

The Regional Inspectorate of Environment and Water has deployed a mobile station to measure air quality in real time, positioned according to wind direction. Results are expected later today. Air is also being monitored by a specialised operational unit.

For now, no smoke has been detected in the nearest village, Shishmantsi, and no instructions have been issued for wearing masks or keeping windows closed.

Alexander Atanasov, mayor of Shishmantsi:
“Compared to previous fires, this one is minor both in terms of smoke and spread, and I think the firefighters have already got it under control. The municipality is also assisting — we are supplying water with a tanker truck and using lorries to bring extra soil from the landfill to cover the affected area. The wind is blowing east between the villages of Bolyarino and Belozem, so there is no smoke in Shishmantsi.”

This is not the first incident at the site. Fires also broke out in the summers of 2015 and 2019.