Two foresters were killed and another was injured Wednesday (August 4th) in Bulgaria while fighting forest fires which have increased in the country this week, the Interior Ministry said.
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The two foresters died after being trapped by a fire raging near a village in the Sandanski region (southwest) since Wednesday morning, the ministry said.
Four houses were destroyed by flames on Wednesday in another fire in the Starosel region (center) where the army sent a helicopter to help the firefighters.
Another helicopter, army vehicles and firefighters have been fighting a large fire since Tuesday in the foothills of the Stara Planina mountain range in the Karlovo region (center) and at least six houses and a former school have been burnt to the ground. 'on the ground Monday when a fire fell on a village in the Kyustendul region (west).
Read also: Greece: new fire near Athens, closure of a main highway
Bulgaria faced a heat wave last week, and on Monday the weather services issued a red alert warning of the heatwave in most of the country. Up to 200-240 fires a day have been recorded in recent days, Fire Department Chief Nikola Nikolov told BNT public television on Wednesday. According to him, 93% of these fires were started by human activities and spread quickly thanks to the heat, the drought and the wind. Large-scale fires are raging in Greece, Turkey and North Macedonia.
