Bulgaria, like neighbouring Greece, has also experienced devastating wildfires. Although there is no connection between the natural disasters occurring in both places, the fires in Bulgaria also proved lethal and have claimed two lives.

An elderly couple died in their house on August 26, in the village of Prisadets, near Topolovgrad in southern Bulgaria. A 75-year-old disabled man was trapped in his home. His 73-year-old wife tried to rescue him from the burning house, but was unable to and both fell victim to the flames.

Almost the whole of Prisadets was destroyed, making it the first village in the country to be abandoned because of natural disaster. According to witnesses, the fire swept through the village in less than 15 minutes and there was no opportunity for the residents to save their homes or possessions. There was only enough time for buildings to be evacuated. Even the church was not spared the flames.

The 30 Prisadets residents have been accommodated in surrounding villages and are currently staying in the local schools.

Nearby villages were also affected by fires, but to a lesser extent. Fifteen houses were damaged in the village of Radovets. The village of Filipovo, near Topolovgrad, was also affected; the school was completely burnt down. The fire spread over an area of 32 sq km of forest.

Another fire started near the coal power plant Maritza Iztok 2, on August 26. It destroyed nearly 10ha (0.1 sq km) of coniferous forests and 30ha (0.3 sq km) of acacia forest. On August 25, a forest was on fire between the villages of Rozovo and Bouzovgrad near Kazanluk, central Bulgaria, and another one near the Radountsi railway station in the Balkan Range.

Also on August 25, in three Stara Zagora villages, Pshenichevo, Kalitinovo and Han Asparouhovo, firefighters were busy trying to control large areas of burning grassland. In the village of Bogdanovo, near Nova Zagora, the flames consumed 93 bee hives in a fire that started in a stubble field. The temperature in the Stara Zagora and Kazanluk area reached highs of 35-38°C on August 25.

Unlike Greece, Bulgarian firefighters had the weather on their side and the rain, which started in the late hours of August 26, helped them control the fires and eventually to put them out.

On August 27, Nikolai Vulchev, head of the regional Fire Safety and Protection of the Population Directorate (FSPPD), said, “The fires in Topolovgrad and Svilengrad municipalities are under control.”

Despite the rain, teams of firemen had to battle with flames, on the night of August 27 to 28, at the village of Stoudena in the Svilengrad region. In total, fires raging in the territory of Haskovo region, for just a two days, had damaged about 110 sq km of land, including 22 sq km of woodland.

Despite the rain on August 27, fires still were still burning in various parts of Bulgaria. The hot spots, where fires were still active, were the regions of Yambol and Haskovo in central Bulgaria. Other fires started in the villages of Melnitsa and Granitovo in the municipality of Elhovo and in the village of Srem, Topolovgrad municipality. The fire spread over an area of 20 sq km. According to preliminary data from the FSPPD, close to six sq km of forest were destroyed by this fire.

Per the FSPPD, the wildfires were probably caused the extremely high temperatures. The fact that the areas which caught fire were not highly populated helped the fires to spread and also the distant villages were not easily reached by the fire brigades.

Again, as after any natural disaster, the issue of property insurance was raised. Predictably none of the owners of the houses that had burnt down had insurance. All the homeowners can hope for now is state aid.

Speculations in Bulgarian-language media suggest that the interests of construction businesses were behind some of the fires. As the forests burnt down, they revealed new construction opportunities, some of the media claimed. However, this is highly unlikely because the villages that were damaged in the fires were not in areas attractive for tourism or any other business that would require large construction projects.

Another theory is that the “wooden mafia”, as the media calls the people who deal with timber trade, was behind many of the fires. A forest that has burnt down provides many opportunities for the people in this trade and, in the past few years, there have been cases of people deliberately spreading fires.

Proof of the seriousness of this issue was demonstrated when, on August 23, the Government decided to ban the export of partially burnt timber in an effort to reduce forest fires. The ban was introduced after a government report showed that about 340 sq km of forest and land had been destroyed by fires so far this year. This may result in a 15-year annual record.

Permission to cut down a forest was easier to obtain if part of it had been damaged by the fire. The timber was then bought cheaply and sold for a higher price in neighbouring countries. The timber was mainly exported to Greece, from where it was usually re-exported to other EU member states.

The Government did not say to which countries the ban would apply but Agriculture and Food Ministry experts told AFP that the ministry could target Serbia, Macedonia and Turkey, but not Greece and Romania, which are part of the EU common market.

However, the area affected over August 26-28 does not contain much forest. Therefore, the most probable cause of the fires was, indeed, the hot weather and the lack of resources at the villages to be able to tackle such fires quickly and effectively.