Bulgaria's fire services will get 285 new vehicles over the next three years, said chief commissioner Aleksandar Dzhartov, head of the Fire Safety and Civil Protection Directorate (GDPBZN) at the Interior Ministry. Deliveries start next year, and the fleet will include light, medium and heavy vehicles.
Dzhartov told the BTA news agency in Lovech, where he attended the opening of the renovated regional fire safety and civil protection service building.
He said the directorate is constantly updating its staff's clothing, equipment and vehicles. The money comes from the state budget and from EU projects, in which GDPBZN is very active. The aim is for firefighters to work in better buildings and have better protection when they fight fires.
Staff recently received 3,000 sets of protective clothing for fighting wildfires. Dzhartov called it one of the largest deliveries the directorate has made. Under another project, the fire service bought 84 drones, which already help crews monitor and manage the response to fires and floods.
The chief commissioner warned that more people die in fires in winter than in summer. He blamed heating devices that are not always in good condition and chimneys of solid-fuel stoves that are not cleaned.
"Our appeal is again to citizens: be careful when using heating devices, whatever they are, and do not leave them unattended," Dzhartov said. The only exceptions are devices built to run without supervision.
He said prevention never stops, so the fire service also runs safety campaigns before the heating season. "So this is one of the biggest challenges: to reduce the number of people killed and injured in house fires," the chief commissioner said.
Last week, all regional services in Bulgaria ran an information campaign on disaster risks and how people can prepare. It marked 13 October, the International Day for Disaster Risk Reduction.