Fire continues to leave a trail of destruction in Turkey, where the wildfires that have hit the Izmir province in particular in recent days have already claimed the lives of at least two people in the Ödemiş district, which is still burning, while efforts continue to control the flames in the Çeşme and Buca districts. In the last week, 624 forest fires have broken out in Turkey, of which 3 are still active.
As reported by various agencies in Turkey, a bedridden 80-year-old man died in the Ödemiş district of Izmir after flames reached several houses: his body was found hours later by firefighters. The fire in this area, which started on 2 July near the village of Tosunlar, continues to rage wind-driven through bushland and forest areas and is now approaching Ortaköy, having burned hundreds of hectares in this district east of the city of Izmir. In the last hours a second victim was confirmed, in this case a forestry worker who was taking part in the extinguishing work.
Turkey’s Minister of Agriculture and Forestry, İbrahim Yumaklı, expressed his condolences for the death of the worker, identified as İbrahim Demir, and confirmed that another forestry worker – a driver named Ragıp Şahin – is in intensive care fighting for his life after being injured in the same area of the fire where the first one died. “These losses are a great burden on us. But we remain committed to extinguishing these fires in honour of those we have lost,” said the minister.
The good news in the last few hours seems to come from the fire on the Çeşme peninsula on the Izmir coast, which broke out on 2 July in an agricultural area of Ildır and from there spread southwards due to the wind to forested areas, reaching later the Zeytineli neighbourhood. However, the latest data indicate that after more than 44 hours of firefighting, the fire appears to be under control: Yumaklı himself was optimistic – but cautious – about the evolution of this wildfire in the coming hours.
624 fires reported in the last week
By contrast, in the district of Buca, on the outskirts of Izmir, the motorway connecting the city with Aydın had to be closed to traffic due to the advance of the flames towards the road. The fire broke out yesterday at around 4 p.m. in a forest area near the town of Kaynaklar and from there it spread rapidly towards residential areas, where evacuation operations continued in the last hours amid efforts to prevent the flames from reaching the houses.
Late yesterday, Yumaklı confirmed that the fires in Antalya, Mersin, Kırklareli, Ceyhan (Adana) and Eşme (Uşak) are under control; also the one that broke out in the Silivri district, on the outskirts of Istanbul’s European side, which was brought under control at around 21:00 local time (19:00 CET) yesterday. According to the minister, 624 fires have broken outacross Turkey since 27 June, of which 621 are considered to be under control or extinguished. Yumaklı described the last week as one of the most intense periods in terms of firefighting in the history of Turkey, which has suffered 3,044 fires so far this year, 1,305 of them in forest areas.
VOTE
EDITORIAL TEAM
🧿 About us
.
Edited and reviewed by:
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.
…
📣 Your ADVERTISING on Hispanatolia
.
🤗 HELP US WITH A DONATION:
💗 Paypal
