site.btaForest Fire near Zabardo Spreads over 35 Hectares

A forest fire that broke out on Monday afternoon in the area between the village of Zabardo and Siniya Han Motel has spread over an area of about 35 hectares, engineer Zdravko Bakalov, director of the South-Central State Enterprise (SCSE) in Smolyan, informed BTA. 

The fire covered state forests, mainly natural stands of black pine. Controlling the fire is extremely complicated, said Bakalov, because the fire is in a difficult-to-access area, with neither forest roads nor trails. The fire is developing in a westward direction towards the ridge, progressing very quickly, by approximately 100 metres in 10 minutes, according to SCSE data. 

The fire is very dangerous, added Bakalov. A military helicopter, fire department teams from the state forestry farms in Chepelare, Smilyan, Dospat and Asenovgrad, Chepelare Municipality, and volunteers are involved in the extinguishing. Heavy machinery is used to plow clearings for fire trucks to reach the high ground. In the past, resin mining took place in the area, which further complicates the situation and explains the visible black smoke. The forest road network has not been developed in the area for about 50 years, and there have been no fellings.

Forestry experts who were the first to arrive at the scene indicated that the fire started from the road.