site.btaInterior Ministry: Timely Help Is Invaluable

A brief send-off ceremony was held on Monday for the Swedish aircraft crew, which for several days were involved in extinguishing fires on the territory of Bulgaria, the Interio Ministry said. "Timely help is invaluable. Bulgaria will always be there if Sweden needs support," said Deputy Interior Minister Tony Todorov and Interior Ministry Secretary General Dimitar Kangaldhziev, expressing the appreciation of the political and professional leadership of the Interior Ministry to the crews of the two aircraft. For their turn, the Swedish crew said that their readiness for this mission was also dictated by their memories of the timely assistance their country received years ago in the event of a serious fire.

Extinguishing efforts at the Bulgarian-Greek border are still ongoing. The fire is developing only on the eastern front, there are 17 fire trucks, firefighters, servicemen, volunteers, hunters, bulldozers. Aircraft continue to overfly the area. In the morning, a Defence Ministry helicopter joined the action on the ground. Spanish aircraft are expected to join in the afternoon.

The fires in the villages of Senokos (Blagoevgrad region), which started in dry grasses and bushes in the area of the settlement and later entered a pine forest, the village of Tsarvaritsa (Kyustendil region) - affecting a mixed forest and localized on an area of about 1,000 acres, of which 500 acres were coniferous forest, and the village of Chuipetlovo  (Pernik region) - affecting about 100 acres of dry grasses and bushes, have been localized. Firefighters with equipment and forest officials remain on duty at the three outbreaks.