Turkey’s Agriculture and Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli on August 7 told reporters that 217 wildfires have been contained. Efforts to extinguish the remaining six blazes are underway. At least eight people have been killed and 118,789 hectares of land burnt since the fires started in the country’s southern and southwestern coasts on July 28.
As many as 18 amphibian jets, 57 helicopters, nine unmanned aerial vehicles, 150 earth movers, 850 water-tenders and 8,155 personnel were put into service to extinguish the fires that blazed in 46 of the country’s 81 provinces. Air forces carried out 1,600 sorties.
It took 218 hours of firefighting at full pace to contain forest fires in Antalya’s Manavgat and Gundogmus districts, Turkey’s foreign minister Mevlut Cavusogly said before holding an evaluation meeting at the coordination centre of the Disaster and Emergency Management Authority (AFAD) in Manavgat on August 6.
Over the weekend, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and other government ministers visited communities destroyed by the fires to inspect the damage and offer their condolences.
“We will continue to take all necessary steps to heal our nation’s wounds, compensate for its losses, and improve its opportunities,” said Erdogan, as he promised that the government would provide financial support to those affected. The measures announced included covering rents and postponing taxes, social security and credit payments, as well as offering credit with zero interest to small businesses.
“We cannot do anything beyond wishing the mercy of God for the lives we have lost but we can replace everything that was burned,” Erdogan said.
Many of the blazes tore through forests near beach destinations, such as Bodrum and Marmaris, with people fleeing in cars, small boats and in some cases luxury yachts.
Support continued to flow in from a number of countries on August 5.
Azerbaijan’s deputy minister of emergency situations Etibar Mirzayev arrived in Turkey’s Mugla province along with a team of 350 people, technical equipment, 53 vehicles, a helicopter, a support team of 11 personnel, two water tanks and a firefighting plane.
Croatia sent a firefighting plane and Iran sent a firefighting plane and two helicopters. Spain also sent a team of 27 people and two firefighting planes and Qatar provided a team of 66 people.
Russia supported Turkey with five firefighting planes, three helicopters and two water tanks. Ukraine also sent three firefighting planes, a water tank and four helicopters.
A total of 21 personnel and seven vehicles from the Forestry Department and Civil Defence Organisation of the Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus (TRNC) arrived in Antalya province on August 4.
The foreign minister said two planes were also rented from Israel, and two helicopters are on the way from the US.
In Turkey’s Mediterranean region and across the country, the area burned this year has increased nearly nine-fold on average with the latest fires, according to an expert.
Meanwhile, the forest fires in the US state of California have spread to a historic town of Greenville on August 5 in the third week of massive forest fires raging across the region. The historical buildings, homes, businesses, and schools were “completely lost” after the blazes reached Greenville.
Also, countries like Germany, Italy, Greece, Albania and North Macedonia are facing forest fires.