The large forest fire in Bulgaria’s Svilengrad area under control

The big forest fire in the South Bulgarian region of Strandzha - Sakar, near Svilengrad, was extinguished. The fire engulfed an area of ​​over 50,000 decares and is the largest for this summer in the whole country. Due to the expected high temperatures today - the situation in Haskovo region remains at high risk.

The battle against the blaze in the biggest forest fire for this year went on for 4 days. Firefighters from all over the country, military, forestry staff, volunteers managed to bring it under control. The blaze burnt through and destroyed thousands of decares of mixed forest and agricultural land. The damage is yet to be assessed.

"According to initial data, more than 50,000 decares of agricultural land, pastures, stubble and forests were burning. Thank you to everyone who took part in extinguishing this fire. Only one uninhabited house burned down, we managed to save people's lives and health and their houses ", said Dr. Stefka Zdravkova, District Governor of Haskovo

The fire in Strandzha - Sakar started from Lesovo, crossed the Tundzha River and spread to the mountains. The fire was caused by a cigarette butt carelessly thrown by a Turkish lorry driver.

"This negligent discarding of a butt has has caused enormous damage to nature. Forest animals died. Every minor mistake can cause a situation on such a scale," said the Haskovo district governor.

Nine firefighting teams remain on duty in the area of ​​the fire.

Meanwhile, it became clear that a man who had caused another fire in Svilengrad's Gebran district had been detained. He allegedly set fire to dry grass, the fire spread quickly and set fire to an illegal dump. The fire burnt 10 farm buildings and animals.