Fire in country’s largest Natura 2000 site enters third day
Firefighters are batting for a third day contain a wildfire raging in the Dadia National Park, the country’s largest Natura 2000 site and home to the only black vulture colony in the Balkans, in the northeastern border region of Evros.
In addition to the firefighting forces, 32 loggers – as well as machinery – have been brought in to create a fire zone. Other loggers worked through the night on widening the perimeter road around the village of Dadia as a precautionary measure.
The national park, located in the middle of Evros prefecture, comprises almost 43,000 hectares, of which 7,300 are in the highest protection category.
By Friday evening, the fire had consumed more than 800 hectares of dense pine forest in a unique ecosystem with a rich fauna.
The park hosts three out of the four European vulture species (black vulture, griffon vulture and Egyptian vulture) while it is home to the only breeding population of black vultures in the Balkans.
