site.btaMunicipalities in Bulgaria Take Necessary Measures for Fire Prevention

All municipalities in Bulgaria have taken the necessary legal measures to prevent fires and respond quickly if they occur on their territories, the local administrations told BTA.

Almost every municipality in the country has a firefighting unit of volunteers equipped with the necessary clothing in accordance with the regulatory provisions. Some of the units, like the one in Pleven Municipality, have water tankers, fire trucks, a crane and an excavator. They pointed out that there is a serious trend for volunteer forces to contribute regularly during the summer-autumn period and conduct fire suppression drills.

Chief Inspector Stoyan Stoyanov, Head of the Fire and Rescue Department at the Regional Directorate for Fire Safety and Civil Protection in Varna, noted that the mayors of municipalities are responsible for equipping the volunteers, as they receive money from the state budget for this purpose. He pointed out that the directorate in Varna is the first in the country to conduct a review of the volunteer squads in the region and that the meetings are held annually. "Our wish is that by 2026, every unit in the region will have an all-terrain vehicle that can accommodate a water tank and a pump," Stoyanov said, adding that this will enable volunteers to react even faster and more adequately.

According to data from the Regional Directorate for Fire Safety and Civil Protection, provided to BTA, fire crews in Stara Zagora have responded to nearly 1,700 reports in 2025, which is 100 fewer than the reports for the same period in 2024. Around 600 of the reports have been submitted since the beginning of July. 

The number of fires during this year's summer season in Plovdiv Region has decreased by about 10%, stated Senior Commissioner Vasil Dimov, Director of the Regional Directorate for Fire Safety and Civil Protection in Plovdiv. The main emphasis in the work of the fire department employees is prevention, he said, adding that two large-scale information campaigns have been carried out in 2025, which concern the preparation and conduct of the harvest campaign, as there is a serious number of fires there.

The Burgas Regional Administration recalled that the majority of fires in the region in recent years have been caused by human negligence. Therefore, in addition to a high-tech drone equipped with a thermal camera to assist in surveillance and early detection of outbreaks, the administration has also placed emphasis on citizen awareness and engagement. On days with increased fire danger in the region, the BG-Alert early warning system is also activated, which sends messages to citizens in areas with fires that have occurred.

On Thursday, measures for fire protection in forest areas in Veliko Tarnovo Region were discussed by various institutions at a meeting with Regional Governor Yulia Likomanova-Mutafchieva. Emphasis was placed on the need to impose sanctions to limit unregulated landfills, which also create serious prerequisites for problems. The meeting discussed the possibility of reducing the spread of fires by plowing around cemetery parks.

The coordination and interaction between all responsible institutions in the event of fires is at a very good level, the Vratsa Municipality emphasized, specifying that the fire service structures in the region interact well with local authorities. They stressed that the only solution to the problem of summer fires is prevention, personal responsibility of people and control. In the event of a fire, it is important to quickly report it to 112 so that it can be localized at the beginning and does not reach a large scale, they advised.