Balkans under the 'power' of flames, DW: Firefighters overworked, lack equipment

Over the past ten days, many areas in Bulgaria have been engulfed in flames. The population is being notified of the fires through the “BG Alert” app.

So far there are no reports of injuries. But many have lost their homes. Like in the village of Rani Lug, in western Bulgaria, on the border with Serbia, where almost all the houses were destroyed by the flames.

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

Poorly equipped firefighters

Meanwhile, the situation has calmed down somewhat: more than 150 fires have been extinguished across Bulgaria. However, two large fires in the southwest of the country are still not under control. A volunteer firefighter in Rani Lug believes that the fires in his region could break out again at any moment and believes that his team is poorly equipped.

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

EU assistance

Because Bulgarian firefighters are overwhelmed, Bulgaria has asked for help from the EU. Five helicopters from Slovakia, Hungary, France, the Czech Republic and Romania are taking part in firefighting operations, and another is expected from Sweden.

Bulgaria's neighbor, North Macedonia, has also asked for help from the EU. Slovenia is sending 50 firefighters to the small Balkan country, which has only two operational water-bombing planes. Fires have been raging there for days, as have Albania.

The forest fire season is far from over.

And the forest fire season is far from over, emphasizes Alexander Dzhartow, head of Bulgaria's civil protection: "We continue to work on the ground, creating new clearing areas, fighting fires wherever possible from the ground and providing air support using helicopters."

"Unfortunately, the weather forecast is extremely unfavorable. There will be strong winds again, the direction of which will constantly change from north to south and from south to north, which significantly complicates extinguishing the fires."

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