Bulgarian Firefighters Battle Days-Long Blaze in Pirin Mountains
Jerusalem, 4 August, 2025 (TPS-IL) -- Blagoevgrad (BTA) – Five Bulgarian firefighting teams and forest officials are battling a large forest fire in the Pirin Mountains that has been burning for several days. This was stated at a briefing by the director of the Regional Directorate for Fire Safety and Population Protection (RDPBZN) in Blagoevgrad, Commissioner Valentin Vassilev. The teams are patrolling the terrain and working on outbreaks that are within the perimeter of the incident, while also discovering new outbreaks.
Field work continues, Commissioner Vassilev pointed out, adding that yesterday the more serious outbreaks on which the teams worked were three, and today work continues on three outbreaks.
When asked if there is a risk of the fire starting above Ilindentsi, the director of the RDPBZN – Blagoevgrad said that there is always a risk, which is why the teams are on the ground. “These fires are extremely difficult to extinguish, as they also affect the peat cover, which smolders deep down. A fire may not appear for a day or two, and in a week it is even possible for a new fire to appear far from the perimeter,” Vassilev pointed out.
The fire near the village of Ilindentsi broke out on the evening of July 25. About 200 firefighters, forest officials and volunteers, as well as aircraft, were involved in controlling the fire. The spread of the fire forced the evacuation of the Sandanski village of Ploski on July 29. The evacuation was canceled on July 31, after rain fell in the Ilindentsi area , which helped to localize the fire.
In this situation, a 79-year-old resident of the village of Ploski was found burning waste in the yard of his house this morning. The fire was detected during a morning surveillance of the perimeter of the fire with a drone, which is being conducted in order to identify outbreaks in the territory where the fire was raging.
The man was identified with the assistance of teams from the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs – Blagoevgrad, Commissioner Valentin Vassilev also said. An act of establishing an administrative violation has been drawn up against the perpetrator and the competent prosecutor’s office has been notified, the Regional Directorate of the Ministry of Internal Affairs – Blagoevgrad announced. Commissioner Vassilev added that a fine of up to 2,000 leva is pending.
Lighting an open fire, especially in the current dry weather, always poses a huge risk of an uncontrolled fire, said the director of the RDPBZN – Blagoevgrad. Commissioner Vassilev emphasized that the atmospheric conditions – wind and high temperatures, such as those in the Ilindentsi region in recent days, mainly affect open burning. Under such conditions, the spread of combustion is extremely rapid, added Commissioner Vassilev.
