The national emergency call system 112 experienced unprecedented load on August 7 between 18:00 and 20:30, when a total of 1817 calls were registered. The Ministry of Interior reported that out of all incoming signals, 360 were directly related to fires in three regions of the country – Shumen, Haskovo, and Burgas.
The initial report of a fire in the Shumen Plateau came in at 19:37, and by 20:30 the number of calls for this incident reached 297. This intensive communication flow caused the formation of so-called telephone queues, which hindered immediate communication with emergency services.
Experts from the Ministry of Interior emphasized the exceptional importance of proper behavior during disaster situations. They recommended that citizens show patience and wait on the line, instead of disconnecting and redialing, which further delays the processing of emergency calls.
According to official data from the General Directorate "Fire Safety and Population Protection", national fire teams have dealt with 110 fires over the past 24 hours. They responded to a total of 142 incident reports, with the fortunate circumstance being that no human casualties or injuries were recorded.