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8 May 2026
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Dromader pilot killed fighting major wildfire in eastern Poland
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The fire in Solska Forest, Biłgoraj County started on Tuesday, 5 May 2026, at around 15:00 CEST and quickly spread to cover over 150 hectares. This comes as a symptom of the ongoing drought crisis in the Roztocze region, with the moisture levels in the lower layers of the forest (~6%) being compared to book paper (7-8%). The fire is currently being fought by 372 firefighters from 100+ brigades, the Polish Territorial Forces and the Police with the use of helicopters. The intervention has been made difficult by the weather conditions - high heat and wind agitating the fire for several hours. What's more, the fire was spreading via treetops making extinguishing difficult - both from land and air.
A spokesperson from the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMGW) stated that any thunderstorms that might appear in the area will likely only be local and not help the process. Voivodeship Road 849 running close to the affected area was restricted and remains so during Wednesday afternoon, according to TVN8.
During the evening of May 5th, around 21:00, a Dromader plane helping fight the fire lost contact with the action coordinators and crashed, killing the pilot. According to Gazeta Wyborcza, the pilot was 65 years old and had over 19 000 hours of flying experience. The exact circumstances of the accident are under investigation.
On the morning of May 6th, the smell of burning was able to be felt up to 60kms away from the fire according to a Wyborcza reporter, Kamil Kulig, at the time present in Żółkiewice. The head of Biłgoraj County, Andrzej Szarlip, also stated that the fire was earthbound. Further, the forces present described the situation as getting under control with the fire area reportedly shrinking back to 25 hectares. The National Security Centre had also sent out alert messages to the people in Biłgoraj County not to open the windows due to the large amounts of smoke.
The situation worsened again in the afternoon, with wind resuming at 60km/h, water pressure in the network weakening, helicopters needing to be refuelled and two firefighters fainting from exhaustion.
The fire is likely to have started in a private forest, the lack of forest roads restricting access for firefighters. It is currently not known for sure, though speculated (on account of natural forest fires being quite rare) that it may have been caused, knowingly or unknowingly, by human activity.
The Solska Forest is part of the Roztocze National Park, who in response to this and other fires in the region have decided to completely restrict access to its forested areas until further notice. The same has been done by the Zwierzyniec and Józefów Forest Districts.
At time of writing, no evacuations of nearby villages have been performed, but the authorities have warned that one concerning several nearby homes might happen.
The fight is still ongoing.
The fire started only one day after the Catholic Feast of St. Florian, the patron saint of firefighters.
Sources: Lublin112, Reuters, Sky News, TVP World
A spokesperson from the Institute of Meteorology and Water Management (IMGW) stated that any thunderstorms that might appear in the area will likely only be local and not help the process. Voivodeship Road 849 running close to the affected area was restricted and remains so during Wednesday afternoon, according to TVN8.
During the evening of May 5th, around 21:00, a Dromader plane helping fight the fire lost contact with the action coordinators and crashed, killing the pilot. According to Gazeta Wyborcza, the pilot was 65 years old and had over 19 000 hours of flying experience. The exact circumstances of the accident are under investigation.
On the morning of May 6th, the smell of burning was able to be felt up to 60kms away from the fire according to a Wyborcza reporter, Kamil Kulig, at the time present in Żółkiewice. The head of Biłgoraj County, Andrzej Szarlip, also stated that the fire was earthbound. Further, the forces present described the situation as getting under control with the fire area reportedly shrinking back to 25 hectares. The National Security Centre had also sent out alert messages to the people in Biłgoraj County not to open the windows due to the large amounts of smoke.
The situation worsened again in the afternoon, with wind resuming at 60km/h, water pressure in the network weakening, helicopters needing to be refuelled and two firefighters fainting from exhaustion.
The fire is likely to have started in a private forest, the lack of forest roads restricting access for firefighters. It is currently not known for sure, though speculated (on account of natural forest fires being quite rare) that it may have been caused, knowingly or unknowingly, by human activity.
The Solska Forest is part of the Roztocze National Park, who in response to this and other fires in the region have decided to completely restrict access to its forested areas until further notice. The same has been done by the Zwierzyniec and Józefów Forest Districts.
At time of writing, no evacuations of nearby villages have been performed, but the authorities have warned that one concerning several nearby homes might happen.
The fight is still ongoing.
The fire started only one day after the Catholic Feast of St. Florian, the patron saint of firefighters.
Sources: Lublin112, Reuters, Sky News, TVP World
