Five wildfires were still burning across Turkey’s western and southern coasts on Friday afternoon, and the agriculture ministry warned that elevated fire risk would carry into next week after a wind-driven wave of blazes that has damaged dozens of buildings.
“Five forest fires are continuing,” Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said. “The fire risk looks set to carry over into next week. Our intervention will continue until every problem has been resolved.”
The communications directorate flagged particular danger in the provinces of Canakkale, Balikesir, Bursa, Izmir, Manisa, Aydin, Mugla, Antalya, Mersin and Adana, where high temperatures and strong winds were forecast to persist. Officials said the risk of fires reigniting was significant.
Of 206 fires recorded since Wednesday, when strong winds began fanning blazes across the country, 202 had been brought fully under control by Friday, 133 of them outside forest areas, according to the agriculture ministry.
The General Directorate of Forestry deployed 28 aircraft, 119 helicopters, 14 drones, 1,953 fire trucks, 2,766 initial response vehicles and 878 pieces of heavy machinery, with crews working around the clock from more than 1,600 positions. In the Cine district of Bodrum, a popular tourist area, firefighters worked through the night to evacuate animals from four zones.
The fires had by Friday evening damaged or destroyed 65 buildings, almost all of them in Antalya and Mugla provinces, according to Environment Minister Murat Kurum. The European Forest Fire Information System put the total area burned in Turkey this year at 22,587 hectares.
For residents who lost their homes, the damage is devastating. “We have turned to ashes, we have nothing left,” said Arzu Celep, an elderly woman evacuated from one of the affected areas. “My dog is gone, he was more precious to me than my own life,” she added. Other residents described fruit and olive groves reduced to ash.
Turkey has suffered increasingly severe wildfires in recent years, driven by drought. Heavy winter rains had until recently protected vegetation cover in the affected regions, which had largely been spared earlier in the season. Authorities had banned entry into the highest-risk forests at the start of summer.
Yumakli said the government was working to cut the average emergency response time to 10 minutes, a target it was close to reaching as crews continue to battle the remaining blazes. The fires erupted as much of the Mediterranean basin bakes under a prolonged heatwave that has also fueled deadly blazes in Greece, France and Spain this week.
Sources: Euronews, Euronews (July 30), European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS)
Author: Europe Desk
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