86 are the active wildfires in the country, the fire near Otets Paisievo village has been contained

There are currently 86 active wildfires in the country, the fire fighting department told BNT on July 18. In the recent hour, a dangerous fire broke out near a petrol station in Harmanli. The fire brigade said that over 316 units of firefighting equipment with over 908 fire brigade personnel were engaged in extinguishing the forest and wild fires.

The fire above the village of Otets Paisievo has been contained. There are smoldering areas that frequently ignite, but the fire has not expanded its territory. Dozens of firefighters, military personnel, volunteers, forest workers are on the field for the fourth day. On Monday, the fire engulfed 30 houses in the villa area, and 15 people were evacuated.

At this stage there is no immediate danger that the fire will affect other settlements. However, the authorities have made coordination and in the event of another such situation, people will be warned.

"There are instructions. Municipal mayors have brought information to village mayors about such early warning," said Atanas Tashkov, deputy district governor.

"They will certainly be notified in time if there is such a need. Each one personally, individually will be contacted, will be briefed. This is how we proceeded in the village of Mihiltsi together with the police and our employees and from the side of the town hall - we went around all the houses that had to be warned," said Senior Commissioner Vasil Dimov - Director of the Regional Fire Fighting Directorate - Plovdiv.

The main challenge for all the teams was the wind and to prevent the fire from overtaking the fire lines.

"We are carrying out tasks on three fronts, divided into three groups of 30 people we will extinguish the fire in areas, which are difficult to access with tampers and backpack sprayers," explained Lieutenant Colonel Peter Rabadzhiev-deputy commander of 101 Regiment-Plovdiv.

"We would go into the forest, put the fire out, and just as we thought we had put it out and go higher up, and the next moment what we had supposedly put out would flare up again. Whoever has the opportunity should come to help. Wear long clothes, comfortable shoes as it is difficult terrain. There are a lot of bushes, so ...," commented a volunteer.

The situation is really very, very serious and we need as many people as possible to get things under control as quickly as possible," added another volunteer.

"Early in the morning, teams were distributed all over the perimeter with the task - checking all smouldering fires to extinguish, expand and clean the fire lines that were created the day before. So that we do not allow, even if the wind gets stronger, the flare up of such areas, and the expansion of the fire. At this moment the burning has been stopped along the entire perimeter," emphasized Senior Commissioner Vasil Dimov - Director of the Regional Directorate of Fire Prevention and Fire Fighting - Plovdiv.

The two helicopters that the Czech military forces sent yesterday were also available to the fire fighting teams in the area.