More than 50,000 evacuated as Turkey wildfires rage: Disaster agency
'A total of over 50,000 citizens from 41 settlements have been temporarily relocated to safe areas,' AFAD wrote on X, saying most of them were from fires raging near the western resort of Izmir.
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Al Arabiya
4 hours ago
- Al Arabiya
Turkey sends firefighting aircraft to Syria as wildfires rage on both sides of the border
Turkey sent two firefighting aircraft Saturday to help battle wildfires in neighboring Syria as Turkish firefighters battled a blaze on their side of the border and one person was reported dead in the country's west. Eleven fire trucks and water support vehicles were also dispatched to help beat back flames in Syria's northwest Latakia region, according to Raed Al Saleh, the Syrian minister of emergency and disaster management. He posted on X, saying 'sudden wildfires in Turkey' delayed their arrival by almost a day. Turkey has been battling wildfires since June 26. Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said Saturday that firefighters successfully controlled 10 major fires in western Turkey, but an injured forestry worker had died, the third in the municipality of Odemis in Izmir province. Authorities said most of the fires in Izmir were caused by faulty power lines. Meanwhile, in Hatay province, which borders Syria, emergency crews continued fighting a blaze that broke out Friday afternoon in the Dortyol district near a residential area and rapidly intensified due to strong winds, the state-run Anadolu Agency reported. Some 920 homes had been evacuated as a precaution against the advancing flames, Governor Mustafa Musatli said late Friday. Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 44 suspects had been detained in relation to 65 fires that broke out across the country. Fires that have hit Turkey, Greece and Syria over the past week have been fueled by soaring temperatures, strong winds, and low humidity. In Turkey, they led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people and damaged some 200 homes. The Syrian Civil Defense expressed concerns over the presence of unexploded ordnance from the country's past conflicts in some of the wildfire areas. Summer fires are common in the eastern Mediterranean region, where experts warn that climate change is intensifying conditions.
Al Arabiya
5 hours ago
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Wildfires spread across Europe
Several wildfires broke out on Saturday across European countries including Greece, Turkey and France, whose southern regions are battling multiple fires following a prolonged heatwave. In Turkey, where firefighters have battled more than 600 fires in the drought-hit nation over the past week, authorities said a forestry worker injured while fighting the flames in the province of Izmir had died of his injuries. The blaze, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) east of the coastal resort of Izmir, had already claimed the lives of an 81-year-old bedridden man and a 39-year-old forestry worker on Thursday. The fire was brought under control on Friday evening, along with six other forest fires mainly in western and central Turkey, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said on X. But firefighters on Saturday were still battling a fire in the southern coastal area of Dortyol, near the Syrian border. Turkey has largely escaped the recent heatwaves that swept southern Europe, but strong winds have intensified the forest fires. French weather service Meteo-France said on Saturday the punishing heatwave that began on June 19 had officially ended on Friday, lasting in all 16 days -- the same length as the country's deadly 2003 heatwave. That same day, however, the first major fires of the season broke out in the south, as well as in the Bouches-du-Rhone and Herault departments, leading authorities to shut down portions of a key motorway during the first weekend of the summer holiday season. Traffic jams reached up to 10 kilometers in each direction on the A9 motorway, with water being distributed to the numerous motorists stranded under the blazing sun. In Mireval, near the southern city of Montpellier, a blaze fanned by swirling winds led firefighters to evacuate about 10 people. 'It was very frightening, especially between 4:00 pm (1400 GMT) and 6:30 pm. The air was unbearable to breathe, there was a lot of smoke in the village, you couldn't see anything anymore and large ashes were falling from the sky,' said 46-year-old resident Lorette Gargaud. In Greece, a 52-year-old man was arrested on the island of Evia, accused of starting the fire that devastated part of the island between Friday evening and Saturday morning. The man was allegedly clearing brush from a plot of land when the fire broke out and quickly got out of control, public broadcaster ERT reported. Greek firefighters remained on high alert on Saturday due to high temperatures and strong winds across the country.
Arab News
a day ago
- Arab News
Syria battles forest fires for third day as Turkiye sends help
QASTAL MA'AF, Syria: Syrian emergency workers were battling forest fires raging in the coastal province of Latakia on Saturday for a third day in tough conditions as neighboring Turkiye sent assistance. An AFP correspondent saw strong winds fanning the flames in forest areas and farmland in Qastal Maaf, around a dozen kilometers (eight miles) from the Turkish border, as residents continued to flee with what they could carry. Some residential areas in the region were evacuated a day earlier. Syria's ministry for emergencies and disaster management said teams from Turkiye began helping on Saturday morning 'as part of regional coordination to face the fires,' with the assistance including two aircraft and eight fire trucks. Turkiye, a key supporter of Syria's new authorities, has been battling its own fires in recent days, including near the Syrian border. The AFP correspondent saw helicopters bearing the Turkish flag flying over Qastal Maaf assisting firefighters on the ground. Syria's civil defense said a volunteer firefighter suffered from smoke inhalation and a service vehicle caught fire. More than 60 Syrian civil defense and other teams were fighting fires across several areas of Latakia province, the ministry said. It cited 'very difficult conditions, with the explosion of war remnants and mines,' strong winds and high temperatures, adding that mountainous terrain was hampering efforts to reach some blazes. More than six months after the ousting of longtime ruler Bashar Assad, Syria is still reeling from more than a decade of civil war that also left munitions and ordnance scattered across the country. With man-made climate change increasing the likelihood and intensity of droughts and wildfires worldwide, Syria has also been battered by heatwaves, low rainfall and major forest fires. In June, the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization told AFP that Syria had 'not seen such bad climate conditions in 60 years.'
