Wildfires threaten turkey's fourth-largest city as locals are evacuated
By morning, lessening winds brought some respite to firefighters who continued efforts to bring down the flames. However, TV footage revealed an ashen landscape where farms and pine forests had earlier stood. Turkey has been hit by dozens of wildfires daily since late June. Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yamukli said fire crews across the country confronted 76 separate blazes Saturday. The fires are being fueled by unseasonably high temperatures, dry conditions and string winds. The General Directorate of Meteorology said Turkey recorded its highest ever temperature, 50.5C (122.9F), in the southeastern Sirnak province on Friday. The highest temperatures for July were seen in 132 other locations, it added.
Yamukli said the country's northwest was under the greatest threat, including Karabuk where wildfires have burned since Tuesday. Thirteen people have died in recent weeks, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers killed Wednesday in a fire in Eskisehir in western Turkey. Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said late Saturday that prosecutors had investigated fires in 33 provinces since June 26, adding that legal action had been taken against 97 suspects. The severity of the fires led the government to declare two western provinces, Izmir and Bilecik, disaster areas on Friday.
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- Al Arabiya
2 volunteers die fighting Turkey wildfires, raising deaths to 17 since late June
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Arab News
a day ago
- Arab News
2 volunteers die fighting Turkiye wildfires, raising deaths to 17 since late June
ISTANBUL: The death toll from wildfires outside the city of Bursa in northwest Turkiye rose to four late Sunday after two volunteer firefighters died. The pair died in hospital after they were pulled from a water tanker that rolled while heading to a forest fire, news agency IHA reported. Another worker died earlier at the scene of the accident and a firefighter died Sunday after suffering a heart attack. Their deaths raised Turkiye's wildfire fatalities to 17 since late June, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers killed Wednesday in a fire in Eskisehir, western Turkiye. Huge fires around Bursa, Turkiye's fourth-largest city, broke out over the weekend, leading to more than 3,500 people fleeing their homes. On Monday morning, fog-like smoke from ongoing fires and smoldering foliage hung over the city. Unseasonably high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds have been fueling the wildfires, with Turkiye and other parts of the eastern Mediterranean experiencing record-breaking heatwaves. The fires around Bursa were among hundreds to have hit Turkiye over the past month. While firefighting teams have contained the damage to a limited number of homes, vast tracts of forest have been turned to ash. The water tanker crew comprised volunteers from nearby Bolu province heading to the village of Aglasan, northeast of Bursa, to combat a blaze when the vehicle fell into a ditch while negotiating a rough forest track, IHA reported. Turkiye battled at least 44 separate fires Sunday, Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said late Sunday. He identified two fires in Bursa province, as well as blazes in Karabuk, northwest Turkiye, and Kahramanmaras in the south, as the most serious. The government declared disaster areas in two western provinces, Izmir and Bilecik. Prosecutions have been launched against 97 people in 33 of Turkiye's 81 provinces in relation to the fires, Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said. A crowd of people gathered Sunday evening outside a police station in the village of Harmancik, 57 kilometers (35 miles) south of Bursa, after learning a suspected arsonist was detained there. The angry crowd demanded for the suspect to be handed over to them. The crowd dispersed after police assured them a thorough investigation would be undertaken.
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a day ago
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Four dead, eight missing in north China after heavy rain
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