Heatwave, strong winds, wildfires… This is the reality in Bulgaria these past few days. Houses burnt to ashes, farm and wild animals, the harvest destroyed, nature devastated. And the human suffering in the wake of the fire.

• Interior Minister Kalin Stoyanov: Every 20 minutes there is a report of a new fire

“I am 66. This is the house where I was born. And today this house went up in smoke,” exclaimed a woman from one of the worst-affected villages – Voden, located in the border municipality of Bolyarovo in Southeastern Bulgaria. 

Because the strong winds constantly fanned up the fire, the people from the home for the elderly in a nearby village were temporarily evacuated. The director of the home Zlatka Yaneva has also been affected by the fire – her own home burnt down. Talking to the BNR’s correspondent in Yambol Daniela Kostova she said the only thing she was able to salvage were her personal documents.

“That is all. Everything else that was inside went up in flames – furniture, clothes, cooker, freezer… The body politic needs to really sit down and think about it. When there is a disaster as serious as this they shouldn’t be talking about compensations of 5,000 Leva (the equivalent of EUR 2,500), every household here should be provided 50,000 Leva so we can go on with our lives. If not, the village dies. Half of the village has burnt down. I have been living in this village for 40 years, and I have never seen anything as horrendous as this.”

After going to the regions of the country where fires broke out, caretaker Prime Minister Dimitar Glavchev and the ministers of the interior and of labour and social policy Kalin Stoyanov and Ivaylo Ivanov promised aid to the people affected by the fires, and rejected the demands by some of the parliamentary formations for their resignation over their failure to cope with the wildfires around the country.

Dimitar Glavchev stated the situation was too complicated to be politicized.

“It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say that the people who are on site are demonstrating true heroism – all firefighters, army personnel, volunteers. Against the backdrop of their efforts that sounds cynical. My own resignation is the easiest thing. But I urge the politicians to come out of their air conditioned offices and to come and to see what is happening in the field.”

Firefighters, gendarmerie, border police, forest rangers, volunteers and one Bulgarian air force helicopter have joined in the efforts to extinguish the wildfires. In a matter of hours, neighbouring Turkey also responded to the call for help in the village of Voden with specialized vehicles, manpower and equipment. The public has also been giving the people battling the flames their moral support, with photos of firefighters, army personnel and volunteers going viral on social media.

Any calamity raises a number of questions – has the reaction at a state level been adequate, are the planned compensations sufficient, are there any prevention efforts…

“The state is going to provide compensations to all people affected by the fires,” stated caretaker Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Lyudmila Petkova. She took part in a meeting of the parliamentary budget and finance committee, after which the MPs approved a draft decision obligating the Council of Ministers to provide compensation for the people affected as soon as possible. Minister Petkova stated that everything necessary would be done so that people shall receive compensation as soon as possible.

In a comment on the fires raging around the country, President Rumen Radev stated that he expected the executive and the legislature to create conditions so as to provide the necessary funding for firefighting equipment, adding that we have the trained people but that we need more equipment.

“Every time we learn our lessons from these fires. And we should, at last, create conditions so there will be enough funding for fire engines, helicopters, equipment for the staff. That is something that should not be forgotten once the latest wildfire has been extinguished. I thanked the prime minister of Czechia for sending help so promptly, I would also like to thank Turkey for its support which is so important. Whether the government has done a good job – that is a matter for a comprehensive analysis once the fires have been extinguished.”

Reporting by Daniela Kostova, BNR correspondent in Yambol, Daniela Dobreva, Radio Plovdiv-BNR, Mira Stefanova, Horizont channel, BNR
Compiled by Krasimir Martinov
Translated and posted by milena Daynova
Photos: Daniela Kostova, BTA, BGNES