A wildfire broke out today near the village of Strandzha in the border municipality of Bolyarovo and spread into the areas around Voden and Gorska Polyana. It is burning on three fronts, said commissioner Ivan Dinev, head of the Yambol regional fire service.

A military Cougar helicopter from the air force joined the firefighting effort, the defence ministry said. The General Directorate for Fire Safety and Civil Protection asked for the air support, and the chief of defence approved the request.

The fire is spreading mainly toward Voden and Kraynovo and has already crossed a paved road. Six crews are on the ground, two of them from Burgas, and another crew from Kazanlak is on its way.

Strandzha mayor Ivanka Chalamova told BTA that the wind sometimes pushes the flames back toward the village, but the fire is mainly moving the other way. The blaze is about 4 kilometres from Strandzha.

From the village of Kraynovo, the fire is roughly 10 kilometres away in a straight line, and that front is moving into wooded, hard-to-reach terrain. Kraynovo mayor Angelina Vasileva told BTA that air support is essential, since firefighters would struggle to handle this terrain on their own. "I'm standing at the highest point, and I can see everything laid out below me," she said.

Commissioner Dinev said there is no risk to the gas compressor station near the village of Gorska Polyana.

Chalamova believes the fire most likely started during pasture clearing. The mayor of Bolyarovo municipality, Hristo Hristov, gave the same account. "Clearing is going on right now across the whole municipality — lots of machinery, lots of equipment, carelessness — and we're seeing the results," he said, according to the municipal press office. Hristov added that a large fire is hard to bring under control, and he asked the regional governor and the agriculture minister for tighter checks on pasture clearing.

Another fire in the Yambol region was put out this morning. It started on Monday afternoon near the village of Pobeda and spread across the southern slopes of the hilly Bakadzhik area.