Skip to content
worldfires
en
BG · Countries

Wildfires in Bulgaria

305 fires over 100 hectares with an official perimeter since 2016, adding up to 140,983 hectares burned across 114 municipalities.

Only fires of 100 ha or more get an entry: smaller ones are not in the lists or the entry totals, but they are in the official yearly series.

These figures leave out 5 provisional pages, seen only as heat detections and still without a perimeter. They appear in the lists, marked.

What is burning in Bulgaria today › Emergency number and official warnings ›

Key facts

Figures computed on 25 October 2026 from the WorldFires database; each sentence names its source. Reusable under CC BY 4.0 with credit to WorldFires.

How the season is going · week 42

Copernicus EFFIS
68 % against the 2006–2025 average

Bulgaria is running below the usual for this point in the year, at 68 % of the average: 8,811 hectares burned up to week 42, against an average of 12,891 in 2006–2025 (Copernicus EFFIS).

2026
8,811 ha
average
12,891 ha
minimum
0 ha
maximum
67,598 ha

The season, week by week

Copernicus EFFIS
0 34k 68k Jan Apr Jul Oct Dec
2026 average 2006–2025 lowest and highest

The official record

2006–2026
Yearly average 2016–202515,496 ha
Worst year2024 44,745 ha
With a page here305 since 2016
060708091011121314151617181920212223242526
›See the year-by-year table
Year Fires hectares Source
202672 8,811 EFFIS
202592 32,752 EFFIS
2024133 44,745 EFFIS
202373 15,845 EFFIS
202281 14,579 EFFIS
202135 3,688 EFFIS
202038 9,179 EFFIS
201981 15,503 EFFIS
201813 1,973 EFFIS
201717 5,214 EFFIS
201629 11,483 EFFIS
20159 3,346 EFFIS
20140 — EFFIS
201311 2,966 EFFIS
201231 16,928 EFFIS
201124 11,969 EFFIS
20100 — EFFIS
20096 1,564 EFFIS
200819 5,730 EFFIS
200767 67,598 EFFIS
20061 1,596 EFFIS

National estimates from Copernicus EFFIS, which only counts fires larger than 30 hectares.

Fire calendar

The peak usually comes in week 32 (around 9 August): that is the median of the week with the most burned area in each year since 2016.

Each cell is one week; the colour shows the area of the fires on record that started that week, in quartiles for this country. Tap a cell for details.

Hectares per week: no fires < 209209–500500–1,234≥ 1,234

When it burned: year by year, month by month

Hectares with an official perimeter by the fire’s starting month, and the largest fire of each year.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDecΣLargest of the year
2026
159
4k
1k
1k
 6,432 Haskovo 959 ha
2025
2k
949
18k
6k
3k
 30,020 Elhovo 7,848 ha
2024
782
247
650
2k
31k
6k
471
137
 40,203 Svilengrad 8,124 ha
2023
637
261
3k
4k
2k
3k
416
102
 12,880 Kostinbrod 2,401 ha
2022
279
6k
557
4k
327
438
866
 12,378 Kula 1,099 ha
2021
318
591
617
645
289
 2,460 Lyubimets 317 ha
2020
138
103
1k
4k
2k
 7,667 Topolovgrad 2,202 ha
2019
915
3k
102
2k
4k
1k
135
153
 11,397 Chiprovtsi 882 ha
2018
131
2k
 1,651 Varshets 496 ha
2017
170
448
4k
594
 4,819 Simitli 1,646 ha
2016
104
4k
5k
2k
 11,076 Topolovgrad 1,259 ha

Hectares burned per year

2016 2017 2018 2019 2020 2021 2022 2023 2024 2025 2026

What burns: vegetation burnt by year

Copernicus EFFIS · Corine Land Cover

Of the 140,983 ha that EFFIS mapped in Bulgaria since 2016 in fires of 30 ha or more, 15% was forest, 18% shrubland, 24% other natural land and 42% farmland. 2024 was the year with the most forest burnt: 6,243 ha, 16% of everything that burnt that year.

Breakdown by the Corine Land Cover classes that EFFIS computes inside each perimeter. Only perimeters of 30 ha or more linked to a fire page, so the sum does not match the country total. Forest: coniferous, broadleaved and mixed; shrubland: sclerophyllous and transitional; built-up and other: artificial surfaces and other land cover.

›See the year-by-year table
Year hectares ForestShrublandOther natural landAgricultural areasBuilt-up and other
20266,432 8 %16 %23 %54 %< 1 %
202530,020 18 %20 %26 %34 %1 %
202440,203 16 %16 %18 %50 %1 %
202312,880 8 %18 %34 %40 %< 1 %
202212,378 26 %18 %16 %39 %1 %
20212,460 28 %19 %14 %39 %< 1 %
20207,667 9 %18 %37 %36 %1 %
201911,397 13 %20 %28 %36 %3 %
20181,651 45 %23 %7 %24 %< 1 %
20174,819 18 %13 %41 %28 %< 1 %
201611,076 5 %23 %21 %50 %1 %

Tell me what burns here

New fires in this area by RSS: paste the link into your reader, no email needed.

Follow by RSS

Largest recorded fires

By region

  1. Haskovo 40,052 ha · 50
  2. Yambol 18,836 ha · 19
  3. Burgas 12,267 ha · 34
  4. Lovech 12,137 ha · 54
  5. Pleven 8,810 ha · 25
  6. Vratsa 7,280 ha · 24
  7. Sofia 6,921 ha · 11
  8. Blagoevgrad 6,389 ha · 8
  9. Montana 4,869 ha · 24
  10. Plovdiv 4,438 ha · 15
  11. Vidin 3,908 ha · 15
  12. Stara Zagora 3,459 ha · 13
and 11 more regions with less area
  1. Pazardzhik 2,882 ha · 11
  2. Sliven 2,328 ha · 10
  3. Silistra 1,796 ha · 5
  4. Pernik 1,170 ha · 3
  5. Varna 988 ha · 2
  6. Kyustendil 915 ha · 5
  7. Kardzhali 544 ha · 2
  8. Ruse 462 ha · 2
  9. Veliko Tarnovo 272 ha · 2
  10. Dobrich 202 ha · 1
  11. Smolyan 9 ha · 1

Municipalities that have burned most often in Bulgaria

  1. 25×Ugarchin7 years · 6,043 ha
  2. 20×Lukovit7 years · 2,674 ha
  3. 18×Topolovgrad8 years · 9,713 ha
  4. 16×Svilengrad7 years · 15,636 ha
  5. 16×Yablanitsa6 years · 2,155 ha

Full ranking: by number of fires, area and share of the municipality →

Fires in 2026 · 29

See all 29 fires of 2026 →

Fires in 2025 · 44

See all 44 fires of 2025 →

Fires in 2024 · 62

See all 62 fires of 2024 →

Fires in 2023 · 25

See all 25 fires of 2023 →

Fires in 2022 · 41

See all 41 fires of 2022 →

Fires in 2021 · 13

Fires in 2020 · 15

Fires in 2019 · 42

See all 42 fires of 2019 →

Fires in 2018 · 5

Fires in 2017 · 10

Fires in 2016 · 24

See all 24 fires of 2016 →

Frequently asked questions

How much land burns in Bulgaria in an average year?
According to Copernicus EFFIS estimates, an average of 15,496 hectares burn in Bulgaria each year (2016–2025 average).
What was the worst wildfire year in Bulgaria?
The worst year in Bulgaria since 2016 was 2024, with 44,745 hectares burned according to Copernicus EFFIS.
What is the largest wildfire recorded in Bulgaria?
Largest fire recorded by WorldFires in Bulgaria since 2016: Svilengrad fire, 13 July 2024, with 8,124 hectares burned — perimeter measured by satellite (Copernicus EFFIS).
When is wildfire season in Bulgaria?
In Bulgaria, 81% of the area burned in fires with a WorldFires page since 2016 burned in July–September; the month with the most burned area: July.
How many wildfires has Bulgaria had in 2026?
Fires counted by Copernicus EFFIS in Bulgaria so far in 2026 (up to week 42): 72, against an average of 59 per full year in 2016–2025. That already exceeds the average for a whole year. Bulgaria is running below the usual for this point in the year, at 68 % of the average: 8,811 hectares burned up to week 42, against an average of 12,891 in 2006–2025 (Copernicus EFFIS).
Which regions of Bulgaria burn the most?
Regions of Bulgaria with the most area burned in fires with a WorldFires page since 2016: Haskovo (40,052 ha), Yambol (18,836 ha), Burgas (12,267 ha).