Explosion triggers warehouse fire at EMCO arms depot in central Bulgaria

Overnight blast in Tsareva Livada

An explosion triggered a fire at an arms storage facility in central Bulgaria overnight leading into Saturday. The incident occurred near the village of Tsareva Livada in the Gabrovo region, illuminating the night sky across the surrounding area. Local authorities confirmed that no casualties occurred during the blast or the subsequent fire. Emergency crews monitored the facility as flames extended through the compound.

Regional governor Kristina Sidorova described the situation on site during the early hours of Saturday morning.

“At this moment, the fire is on the territory of the factory storage base. It is spreading from one warehouse to another.”

Facility ownership and recent incidents

The site is operated by EMCO, a private Bulgarian defense company owned by arms dealer Emilian Gebrev. A company representative stated that this is the second fire to affect an ammunition facility managed by the firm in recent weeks. On 10 August 2026, a strong explosion followed by smaller blasts occurred at another EMCO depot. EMCO supplies ammunition to Ukraine, making its storage infrastructure a sensitive part of the regional defense supply chain.

Past blasts and legal proceedings

Bulgarian prosecutors have investigated multiple previous incidents affecting EMCO properties between 2011 and 2020. Those facilities stored ammunition intended for export to Ukraine and Georgia. In 2024, Bulgaria issued arrest warrants for six Russian citizens accused of involvement in the destruction of the depots. Moscow rejected all allegations regarding its involvement in the incidents.

Prosecutors stated they had reasonable grounds to link the Bulgarian depot blasts with explosions at ammunition depots in the Czech Republic in 2014. The Czech government attributed the 2014 explosions to the Russian military intelligence agency GRU. Gebrev also held ammunition destined for Ukraine at that Czech site when the blasts took place.

History of targeting EMCO facilities

The company has experienced repeated incidents at its production and storage sites over the past decade. In 2022, a fire broke out at an EMCO facility in the town of Karnobat. Another explosion occurred at the same Karnobat plant in 2023, where munitions destined for Ukraine were stored. Gebrev stated at the time that accidental causes or human error could not explain the 2023 blast.

Gebrev was also poisoned in April 2015 with the Novichok nerve agent. British authorities later identified the same nerve agent in the 2018 attack against former Russian intelligence officer Sergei Skripal. Authorities continue to investigate the cause of the Tsareva Livada fire as regional officials work to contain the flames across the site.