A forest fire burned out 40 ha of forest near the village of Roussovo in Kyustendil municipality in western Bulgaria, Dnevnik daily reported on August 25. Three fire-fighting vehicles, about 40 workers and about 20 local residents were trying to extinguish the firestorm on August 24.

“The fire was under control last night,” Grozdan Hristov, the director of the regional fire safety department said. There was no danger the fire to increase and affect the nearby house, he said. Three fire brigades on duty kept an eye on the houses from neighbouring quarters during the night.

Another fire burned down 0.3 hectares of forest in the village of Djerman near Doupnitsa, on the road from Sofia to Koulata on the border with Greece.

As previously reported by The Sofia Echo, the hot summer of 2008 caused more than 600 fires registered in the country on August 18-19 alone. They broke out near second biggest Bulgarian Black Sea city of Varna, seaside resort Slunchev Bryag (Sunny Beach), northern city of Botevgrad and the village of Samovodene in the region of Veliko Turnovo.