Forest fires occurred throughout Bulgaria on March 20.

The number of such fires increased over the past days due to the irresponsible manner in which plot owners set such areas on fire.

On March 20 firefighters extinguished 46 major forest fires, Focus news agency reported.

A fire spread to forest areas in Luylin mountain area in the afternoon of March 20. Firefighting teams, representatives of the State Agency for Civil Protection (SACP) and policemen worked together to extinguish it.

Teams from nearby Pernik joined their colleagues from Sofia. Interior Minister Roumen Petkov was present at the site as well.

Another major fire affected the Samokov region. The two fires destroyed nearly 11.7 million sq m of forest area, Focus reported.

Since the beginning of the year 122 forest fires have occurred in Bulgaria. Emergency teams said that the high temperatures and the lack of precipitation also led to the natural disasters.