Turkey wildfires: winds leave five blazes active

Firefighters in Turkey were battling five active wildfires on Friday as strong winds complicated efforts to bring blazes under control, Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said.

Yumakli said firefighters had been called to 218 fires since Wednesday. Of those, 213 had been completely brought under control and five were still ongoing.

He said strong winds were a “very serious negative factor” and were likely to remain a risk into next week.

Firefighters were also tackling a new blaze in Susurluk, about 200 kilometres northeast of Izmir, where winds of more than 50 kilometres per hour were fanning the flames.

Strong winds also worsened the fire in the Cine area, about 100 kilometres inland from the resort of Bodrum. NTV reported that the fire spread quickly toward inhabited areas on Friday afternoon, including Dutluoluk village, which had been evacuated as a precaution on Thursday.

The Cine fire began on Thursday. Anadolu news agency said nine helicopters, three firefighting planes, 42 fire engines and nine water tankers were engaged in fighting it. Firefighters had worked through the night to evacuate nearly 1,000 livestock animals.

Residents described losses to homes, animals, orchards and olive groves. Environment Minister Murat Kurum said 65 structures had sustained severe damage or been destroyed, almost all in the southern Antalya and Mugla regions.

Reports said at least 5,000 hectares of forestland had been destroyed in Mugla. The European Forest Fire Information System website said Turkey has had 71 fires this year, burning 25,701 hectares of land.