Wildfire crosses from Bulgaria into Greece near Soufli

A forest fire that had been burning near the Greek-Bulgarian border crossed into Greek territory near Soufli, in the Evros region, on Sunday, in the area between the villages of Roussa and Mikro Dereio, Greek media reported. The fire service's operations centre was notified of the blaze's advance at around 12:30 local time.

Firefighters in Soufli and across Evros had already been on alert before the fire crossed the border, as thick smoke from the blaze burning on the Bulgarian side had been visible from a distance, NewsIT reported. That meant crews could move quickly once the operations centre confirmed the fire had entered Greek territory.

Sixty firefighters and four ground crews from the 7th Special Disaster Response Unit were sent to the scene with 13 fire engines, along with a helicopter making water drops, NewsIT and Naftemporiki reported. The municipality of Soufli also sent its own water tankers to support the firefighting effort, supplementing the fire service's vehicles on the ground.

Four Greek outlets, including the national daily Kathimerini, gave closely matching accounts of the response, describing the same deployment of firefighters, vehicles and aircraft as the blaze was fought on the Greek side of the border. Fire crews remained on heightened readiness as they worked to contain it.

No casualties or damage have been reported so far, according to all the outlets covering the fire.