Bulgaria Tests Special Fire-Fighting Tank in Vitosha Wildfire

The Bulgarian TP-62 fire-fighting tank is a modification of the Soviet-made battle tank T-62, which was engineered at the Terem – Khan Krum Ltd military and machine building plant in the northeastern city of Targovishte. Photo by Defense Ministry

Bulgaria's authorities will be using the wildfire raging in the Vitosha Mountain near Sofia in order to test a special fire-fighting tank developed by a state-owned military plant, the Defense Ministry has announced.

The TP-62 fire-fighting tank is a modification of the Soviet-made battle tank T-62, which was engineered at the Terem – Khan Krum Ltd military and machine building plant in the northeastern city of Targovishte.

"The TP-62 tank is a cross-country machine with the capacity to carry 10 metric tons of water. It is currently being transported from the factory in Targovishte to the site of the wildfire. It is capable of creating clearings in forest terrains of up to 6 meters in height, and of putting out fires," Bulgarian Defense Minister Anyu Angelov explained Wednesday, as cited by the Defense Ministry press service.

In addition to water-throwers, the fire-fighting tanks is also equipped with a rake and plow allowing it to contain wildfires by digging and plowing.

The fire-fighting tank is being transported with equipment of the National Military University "Vasil Levski" in Veliko Tarnovo.

"For the time being we only have one prototype, and we will test in real conditions," Gen. Agnelov said, adding that the tank will boost the efforts to put out the Vitosha fire which has been raging right outside of the Sofia suburb of Bistritsa for four days.

"There is no chaos among our people. The servicemen and servicewomen and their cars are made available to Chief Commissar Nikolov (the head of the Bulgarian Fire-Fighting Directorate – editor's note), and will be acting as ordered," the Defense Minister said regarding criticism of the military's reaction over the wildfire.

He added that two helicopters of the Bulgarian Air Force and 42 servicemen have been involved in the tackling of the forest fire, with 40 servicemen more being about to join.

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