Balgarianovinite.com Desislava Georgieva, Director of the Management of Territorial Cooperation Directorate at the Bulgarian Ministry of Regional Development and Public Works (MRDPW), on Tuesday presented a contract for the implementation of the FLAMESHIELD Project to Chief Commissioner Alexander Dzhartov, Director of the General Directorate for Fire Safety and Civil Protection (GDFSCP) at the Ministry of Interior, Georgieva’s Ministry said in a press release.
The FLAMESHIELD project seeks to strengthen cross-border preparedness and disaster response capacity by improving coordination between Bulgaria and Turkiye. It focuses on developing joint operational frameworks, enhancing institutional and community capacity, and ensuring a more effective and timely response to forest fires. The aim is to enhance operational readiness, mobility, safety of staff and volunteers, and the ability for faster, safer and more effective disaster response in the cross-border region.
The project will be implemented by the GDFSCP in partnership with national, regional and local authorities of Turkiye and the Bulgarian municipalities of Svilengrad, Topolovgrad and Bolyarovo, whose mayors, Atanas Karchev, Bozhin Bozhinov and Hristo Hristov, were present at Tuesday’s event.
Georgieva noted that this is the last contract under the current cross-border cooperation programme with Turkiye. It brings the total amount of funds contracted under the program to EUR 29 million or 98% of its budget. The funds are invested in various initiatives, such as building competitiveness, the green transition, addressing illegal migration, developing tourism, etc.
“The Directorate General for Fire Safety and Civil Protection is the most active beneficiary under our cross-border programmes. We are currently implementing four key contracts under four programmes worth a total of EUR 18 million. All of them are part of our joint efforts with our neighbours for purposeful response to forest fires and natural disasters that are among the most serious challenges in the Balkans, as they affect ever more areas and inflict increasing damage,” said Georgieva.
Under the FLAMESHIELD project, state-of-the-art equipment will be procured and fire and natural disaster protection training will be delivered in the area along the border between the two countries on EUR 5.2 million from the Bulgaria-Turkiye Cross-Border Cooperation Programme 2021-2027, which is managed by the MRDPW. As a result, 588,200 ha of land in Bulgaria and Turkiye will be protected from forest fires, and approximately 290,000 people in the cross-border region will have their safety increased. Joint standard operating procedures and cross-border response plans, fire risk analyses and maps of vulnerable areas will be developed, covering 30 border villages, and 120 volunteers and first aid teams will be trained and local firefighting teams of around 200 people will be formed. The volunteer tracking system will also be modernized for better coordination.
Thanks to the project, the services and municipalities will purchase new specialized firefighting equipment. The fire service will be equipped with three heavy tracked vehicles for firefighting clearings and open roads in hard-to-reach forest areas. A total of 325 sets of forest fire protective equipment for volunteers, 30 water tankers (4 tonnes) for 30 villages, two tracked tractors with two trailers for transporting heavy equipment, as well as radio communication systems, will be procured. The three municipalities will each purchase one off-road specialized vehicle with one firefighting module and sets of protective equipment.
The Turkish project partners will also purchase forest fire protective equipment for volunteers, water tankers, tracked tractors and radio communication systems, an aerial surveillance drone, specialized equipment for search and rescue intervention, an off-road 4×4 vehicle, a logistics van and IT equipment to support data analysis and disaster management, a GPS and leveling kit for terrain mapping, etc.
Human activity is mainly to blame for forest fires in Bulgaria, according to an analysis that the environmental organization WWF published in July 2025. Over 90% of the fires broke out after deliberate human intervention or due to negligence. Only in two to four of the cases a fire was due to natural causes, most often a lightning. Over 7,000 forest fires have been recorded in Bulgaria over the past 15 years, affecting over 1.1 million hectares, the WWF reported. European Project Provides Forest Fire Protection Equipment to Bulgaria-Turkiye Border Region 2026 THE NEWS FROM BULGARIA – NEWS AGENCY 2009-2025 2026-05-19 16:17:11 Latest news World news Country news Most important news latest news most important latest of the day Justice Petar Nizamov Feathers Petar Nizamov- Feathers Justice bg iustitia.bg iustitia iusticia usticia investigation Burgas Bulgaria news news of the last hour news of the day news of today Bulgaria news The news from Bulgaria blitz news top news most important most commented latest news Boyko Borisov news weather coronavirus news news weather facebook youtube facebook instagram news today news of the last minutes news today today news news bg news leading news hot news bg news site for news all news news bg news of the last hour latest latest news bg news of today news today news today news of the last hour latest news today news bg news news 24 hours news vesti bg novini news world bird bg bivol bg bivol trud bg novini latest news today novinite bg news hello bulgaria political party coat of arms delyan peevski scandalous Bulgarian National Television Free Europe Television scandal exclusive live tv live right now tv tv online tv program bg live now tv news online tv online live court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas court Burgas district court Burgas district court Burgas appellate court Burgas prosecutor Burgas prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Burgas district prosecutor’s office Prosecutor General Ivan Geshev Prosecutor Geshev Tsatsarov Ministry of Internal Affairs Burgas ODMR Burgas ODPR Burgas police Burgas district police Burgas prosecutor Tsatsarov SGS cases Varna court chairman of the SGS court decisions on civil cases decisions on cases Plovdiv court decision of the court decisions cases Varna court criminal cases district district court decisions work in the court SGS chairman of the SGS judges Sofia court post judges Plovdiv court Plovdiv judges Plovdiv Supreme Court Inspectorate Supreme Court Supreme Judicial Council lawyer lawyer criminal cases lawyer civil cases lawyer marriage cases lawyer administrative criminal law criminal process civil law civil process administrative law constitutional law