Red warning code over wildfires issued in Bulgaria

A Red warning code was issued in Bulgaria over wildfire danger on Sunday, the National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology of the country with the Bulgarian Academy of Science announced.

The National Institute of Meteorology and Hydrology warns citizens to be vigilant and ready to take actions in case of a fire that spreads fast. People have to immediately submit signals to fire departments in case they spot a fire.

The territories in question are Yambol District and parts of the districts of Burgas, Varna, Shumen, Dobrich, and Pleven.

The danger of fires starting is also considerable in separate places in the districts of Vidin, Pleven, Veliko Tarnovo, Stara Zagora, Haskovo, and Sliven.

Code Orange will also be valid Sunday for parts of the districts of Montana, Vratsa, Ruse, Targovishte, Razgrad, Silistra, Pernik, Kyustendil, Blagoevgrad, Dobrich, and Kardzhali.

Code Orange means fierce fires may break out, partially or fully gutting tree crowns.

Bulgarian Deputy Minister of Agriculture and Food Georgi Kostov said on Saturday preventive measures against forest fires should be taken by the ministry and the Executive Forest Agency.

He said,"Some 8,000 decares of forest territories have been affected by fire in the country so far during this fire season."

The official recalled tackling the damages caused by a fire on 1 decare cost over BGN 2,000 (about 1,200 U.S. dollars), which meant so far about BGN 16 million (about 10 million dollars) had been spent up to the present.

Some 11,000 decares of forest territories were affected by fire on the average each year in Bulgaria, a Balkan country with 70 percent mountainous territory.

The reported 8,000 fire-affected decares so far in 2015 is about two-thirds of this figure and the country is only a month into the fire season, which ends at end-October.