Heatwaves, drought and fires have already become a summer "tradition" in Bulgaria. The European Fire Information System gives advance information on the fire risks, so the authorities cannot claim to have been caught unawares. And while this year's peak fire season is likely behind us, the country is nowhere near ready for the next one - which will likely be no kinder.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been more than 260 fires, affecting 60,000 hectares. And 50 of these fires covering 40,000 hectares have occurred in the last week alone, PM Dimitar Glavchev said yesterday at a hearing in the National Assembly. More than 5,000 hectares are in mountain areas and 20,000 - in state-owned forests in the Svilengrad, Hisar, Elhovo, Varna, Stara Zagora, Topolovgrad, Pleven and Burgas regions.
Glavchev pointed out that the causes of the fires were natural and force majeure and so could not be foreseen. The combination of high temperatures, but also heavy rainfall in April and May, which fed lush bush vegetation, favored the unusual proliferation of fires, he noted. And while the authorities prepare to deal with the aftermath of such disasters, the problem is that for the last 25 years they have constantly been taken by "surprise". There has simply been insufficient investment in prevention and containment. Why is that so?
Problem #1 - there are no helicopters and equipment
Bulgaria is the only country in the region that does not have its own fleet of specialized firefighting helicopters or planes. Instead, it uses military aircraft that lack the equipment needed to fight fires effectively. Helicopters can deal with mountain fires and planes are good at tackling fires in lowlands and open areas. In mountainous areas, you need equipment that can carry 20 tons of water, not two - the maximum capacity of army helicopters' buckets, experts say.
According to former minister of environment Toma Belev, the big fire in the Bistrishko Branishte reserve in Vitosha mountain of 2012 showed the need for special helicopters to deal with fires in mountainous terrain. "If we had a helicopter then, the fire would not have spread so much," he laments. He adds that it is important to begin investing in a permanent aerial fire-fighting unit, as most of the current heavy lifting is done by firefighters and volunteers working on foot. More people, equipment and a system for organizing volunteers are needed, Belev says.
Two helicopters that arrived from the Czech Republic under the EU Civil Protection Mechanism will now be involved in firefighting. Turkey is also ready to respond again if requested. But this can hardly substitute the absence of local capacity. Currently, Bulgaria relies on European projects to purchase equipment. A total of 100 million levs have been allocated under the Environment Programme 2007-2013, and 170 million levs more - under the new programme. By comparison, neighboring Greece invested 2 billion euro last year to combat disasters last year alone. "We will be just as affected by increasing disasters due to climate change," Belev said, adding that Bulgaria needs to stop squandering opportunities to invest EU money in capacity-building and also plan spending national budget cash on top of it.
Problem #2 - warning systems are not used
Apart from that, Bulgaria has a ton of plans and strategies that don't work. There is now a national warning system - BG - ALERT - but it has not been properly activated. People in areas affected during recent fires were caught by surprise and were not warned, with flames and smoke reaching their houses before they could begin evacuating. When asked why the BG - ALERT system was not used, Capital weekly was told that it was only one of the possible channels for spreading warnings, alongside television, radio and social networks. Messages were not sent because during a fire the power grid is switched off and there is no mobile coverage on the ground, the Interior Ministry explained. And a Recovery Plan project to build communications in hard-to-reach and small settlements is still not ready.
There are also no mechanisms for disaster prevention. For example, there are no clearings in fields that could limit the rapid spread of fires, forester Momchil Panayotov explains. In Greece, by way of contrast, there are huge forest firebreaks, Toma Belev adds. In addition, the authorities maintain a list of key infrastructure, including roadways, which are used on a priority basis by the equipment needed for disaster management. In Bulgaria, measures are also envisaged to fight fires, but no one allocates funds for them, Belev adds.
What's the cost?
There is inadequate information on the tangible and intangible damage from fires. Data only exists concerning the direct costs of extinguishing and labor, whereas indirect costs, which are the largest, are not taken into account, Panayotov says. The lack of an adequate damage assessment is the worst problem. According to the Bulgaria Forest Fire Risk Assessment, prepared in 2022, there are opportunities to quickly obtain accurate information with satellite data through the services of the EU's Earth observation programme, Copernicus. Small-scale imaging missions with drones can easily be organized at a relatively low cost. The data should be stored in GIS databases, which would allow rapid processing and analysis.
And while the state quickly decided to compensate farmers affected by the fires, the provision of funds and equipment for the damaged private properties, for volunteers and firefighters in the line of fire was once again covered by private fundraising.
What causes the fires and where are the high-risk zones?
Some of the causes of forest fires remain unknown (33%). But usually most (65%) are initiated by humans - as a result of accident or negligence in handling fire, or as a result of arson (6%). In only 2% of cases is the cause of the fire natural. This data, together with the sharp increase in the number of fires since the 1990s, indicates the existence of a well-known problem in Bulgaria. Agricultural activities are not sufficiently regulated and many people decide to get rid of leftover vegetation or grass by lighting fires which then spread to the bush and forests, the risk assessment reports.
The territory of Bulgaria is assessed as medium risk in terms of fire danger, according to the Bulgarian Forest Fire Risk Assessment 2022. The highest degree of fire risk is in the central parts of Northern and North-Eastern Bulgaria (Vidin, Vratsa, Pleven, Lovech and Sofia, excluding Sofia city). In the southern part of the country, the districts of Stara Zagora, Yambol and Haskovo are the most vulnerable.
Heatwaves, drought and fires have already become a summer "tradition" in Bulgaria. The European Fire Information System gives advance information on the fire risks, so the authorities cannot claim to have been caught unawares. And while this year's peak fire season is likely behind us, the country is nowhere near ready for the next one - which will likely be no kinder.
Since the beginning of the year, there have been more than 260 fires, affecting 60,000 hectares. And 50 of these fires covering 40,000 hectares have occurred in the last week alone, PM Dimitar Glavchev said yesterday at a hearing in the National Assembly. More than 5,000 hectares are in mountain areas and 20,000 - in state-owned forests in the Svilengrad, Hisar, Elhovo, Varna, Stara Zagora, Topolovgrad, Pleven and Burgas regions.
