EC: In 2024 Bulgaria was among the EU countries most affected by forest fires

Bulgaria, Greece, Italy, Portugal, and Spain are among the EU countries most severely affected, with a total burned area of 334,940 hectares. This is stated in the Forest Fires Report 2024, the European Commission announced. According to the document, the fire season in Europe is becoming longer and more intense.

• It will take half a century to restore the forests destroyed by the wildfires
• Bulgaria is burning! Help has come but the reckoning is painful

Today, on the occasion of Volunteer Day, President Rumen Radev awarded firefighters and volunteers with the Presidential Honorary Badge for their active involvement in managing the fires in 2025. In his address, he recalled the serious challenges posed by the high summer temperatures and the large-scale fires that created risks to the lives and property of thousands of Bulgarian citizens, natural landmarks, and infrastructure in the affected regions.

• Wildfire in Bulgaria's Sakar mountain is under control, 700 ha of forests and pastures burned
• Wildfire in Rila mountain has spread to 50 hectares of protected territory

Meanwhile, firefighters from Varna took part in a photo shoot for a charity calendar for 2026 under the initiative “With Love for the Children, in Memory of the Hero Fathers.” Proceeds from the calendar sales will support children of colleagues injured or killed in the line of duty.

• Climate disasters have "eaten up" 1% of the Bulgarian economy in 2025

Edited by Miglena Ivanova
English version: R. Petkova