On the orders of caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev, the Interior Ministry has opened a 24/7 hotline for reporting fires, the government press service said. The number is 02 901 12 98 and works alongside the single emergency number 112.

The fire task force has been mobilised to speed up inter-agency coordination. The Prime Minister told Parliament that the situation in the country, although an emergency, was under control. Two helicopters from the Czech Republic will join the efforts to extinguish the fires and Romania is also ready to send machinery, said Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov. 

Since the beginning of the year, more than 260 fires have broken out in forests covering more than 6,000 hectares. In the last week alone, more than 50 fires covering 4,000 hectares have been registered in the country.

There is also a fire in a forest near the village of Vaxevo that is spreading to the foot of the Rila Monastery, the Kocherinovo municipality said. So far, firefighters have contained the fire to an area of about 10 hectares.