Firefighting crews finally managed to contain a wildfire that broke out on Monday afternoon in the tourist district of Bodrum in Turkey’s Muğla province, after burning some 100 hectares of woodland in the last few hours.
Muğla governor İdris Akbıyık confirmed that the fire was under control after 18 hours of intense efforts, calling it “one of the most serious wildfires of 2024“. According to Turkish media reports, the fire started at around 2pm on Monday in an area between the villages of Pınarbelen and Kumköy – some 20 kilometres from the city of Bodrum – for reasons yet to be determined.
The firefighting operation involved 8 aircraft, 10 helicopters, 120 bucket trucks, more than 30 fire trucks, a unit of the National Medical Rescue Group (UMKE), 2 ambulances, 5 gendarmerie and police vehicles, 16 water tankers and some 500 fire-fighting personnel. As night fell, the Turkish Armed Forces joined the firefighting operations, deploying two night-vision helicopters to support the fight against the blaze.
Due to the wind, the fire spread rapidly through a forest area around Bodrum, requiring increased efforts with aviation to contain the flames. “Fortunately, the fire did not break out during the night and we were able to intervene from the air (throughout the day). About 100 hectares of forest have been damaged,” told the media the mayor of Muğla, Ahmet Aras.
A heatwave in Turkey, which is bringing high temperatures this summer, has sparked the risk of fires across the country, in many cases aggravated by the presence of strong winds, especially on the west coast. The province of Çanakkale, one of the worst affected, has recorded more than 130 fires this summer, burning 1,905 hectares in June alone. The situation is similar in neighbouring Greece, where temperatures of up to 44 degrees Celsius have sparked several dangerous fires that have threatened the suburbs of Athens itself.
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Pablo Gómez is a specialist in Turkey and has been editor-in-chief of Hispanatolia since 2011. He has been analysing current affairs and geopolitics in Turkey and the surrounding region since 2006.
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