A 13-year-old child is believed to have started a major wildfire that burned through around 14,000 decares near the Haskovo villages of Dinevo, Koren, Krivo Pole and Malevo. The fire took nearly two days to contain, prompting the deployment of a helicopter and a large number of firefighters and other personnel.
Six firefighting teams remained at the scene to monitor the affected area and prevent new outbreaks. Around 2,000 decares of the land affected by the fire consisted of forest plantations.
Senior Commissioner Miroslav Hristov, director of the Haskovo Regional Directorate of the Interior, said the fire was deliberately started after children had been smoking cigarettes.
“Children were smoking cigarettes, after which one of them lit the grass with his lighter, according to him, to see what would happen, to clean the dry grass. Shortly after it caught fire, due to the strong wind, the fire grew,” Hristov said.
According to the account provided by the children, they tried to put out the flames using improvised means after the fire spread, but were unable to control it. They then fled toward the village of Dinevo.
