"There have always been forest fires, sometimes due to natural causes, although in recent times more than 90% of wildfires have been caused by humans, either deliberately or accidentally," says Toma Belev. Now the National Assembly has adopted a declaration, but it is too late. We could have done this 17 years ago, and we would not have had to pray to other nations for help, hoping that there will be no fires in Greece, Turkey, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, and that they will send their machines. Bulgaria is not a poor country. Bulgaria is not a country that cannot foresee the risks to its population, because these risks have been identified, and there has simply been a lack of political will to finally take the decision to buy some of this aerial fire-fighting equipment".

According to Toma Belev, there is no cheaper or quicker way to fight forest fires than to use helicopters or planes to deliver large quantities of water so that when a fire breaks out, it can be extinguished while it is still small. And with the help of an established fire detection system, it is now very easy to detect fires and put them out quickly.

The ecologist rules out logging as the cause of the deliberate fires, as there is no demand for firewood, even though forestry companies have cut prices by 20%. 

This year's fires were caused by sheer carelessness. In Petrich and Varna, for example, the fires were started by people burning cables to get at the metal. In the words of Toma Belev, the bigest fire started while cleaning a garden. 

At the same time, no one knows that since March, by order of the regional governors, it has been forbidden to light fires in all the country's forests. "Now is the most dangerous time, but you'll see people lighting fires for barbecues, even if you go to Vitosha, because people are used to it," he points out, stressing that the population must also take responsibility. 

As for reforestation, this can only take place after a year, when the foresters have cleared the land and prepared it for replanting.