Firefighting teams managed to bring under control in the last few hours a large forest fire that broke out two days ago in the south of Tekirdağ province in Turkey’s Thrace region and spread to the neighbouring province of Çanakkale, forcing the evacuation of 1,300 people and shutting down traffic on a nearby highway because of the risk to drivers, in one of the largest firefighting operations carried out in Turkey this summer.
According to public broadcaster TRT, the fire, which broke out at around 13:30 on 15 July in an agricultural area in the Şarköy district of Tekirdağ, spread to a forest area and later spread to the Gelibolu (Gallipoli) district of Çanakkale, was brought under full control on the morning of 17 July after 42 hours of fighting the blaze.
The fire came to threaten several villages in Şarköy forcing the evacuation of a total of four villages in the district – İstiklal, Şenköy, Kızılcaterzi and Keçeli – which involved displacing 1,320 residents from the region, according to Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı, who paid a visit to the affected area. The authorities stress that the operation to extinguish this fire has been one of the largest carried out this summer in the country, since it has involved the participation of 15 seaplanes, 19 helicopters, about 500 vehicles and 1,181 personnel on the ground.
The Minister of Urban Planning and Climate Change, Murat Kurum, reported on the damage caused by the latest fires in Turkey, saying that in the Ayvacık district of Çanakkale 2 houses and 5 barns had been damaged by fire, while in Mudurnu (Bolu) a total of 6 houses, 1 barn and 9 haystacks were affected. Regarding the fire extinguished in the last hours in Şarköy (Tekirdağ), 1 house and 3 barns were severely damaged. In addition, a total of 22 people – including three members of the emergency services – had to be hospitalised due to smoke inhalation.
Meanwhile, newspapers such as Hürriyet reported that the fire that broke out yesterday in a wooded area next to the village of Çaltılı in the Savaştepe district of southern Balıkesir province rekindled overnight. Extinguishing teams are still battling with the flames supported from the air by planes and helicopters, which started operating after dawn.
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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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