site.btaBulgarian Military Units Continue Efforts to Contain Major Wildfire in Rila National Park

Military personnel from the Bulgarian Land Forces, along with an Air Force crew operating a Cougar helicopter, are once again assisting in the battle against the large forest fire raging in Rila National Park, the Defence Ministry said in a press release on Saturday.

Since early morning on Saturday, 19 servicemen equipped with machinery from the 3rd Mechanized Battalion – Blagoevgrad, part of the 3rd Brigade Command, have been deployed under the leadership of Senior Lieutenant Yordan Stoychev. Their operations are concentrated in the area above the village of Gorno Osenovo.

At 10:12 a.m., an Air Force crew took off from Krumovo Air Base with a Cougar helicopter to join the firefighting efforts from the air.

On Friday, Chief Commissioner Alexander Dzhartov, head of the Fire Safety and Population Protection Directorate General at the Interior Ministry, said there are currently no other major fires across the country that pose significant operational challenges, apart from the one in Rila National Park.