
Turkey aids Syria as fires rage on both sides of border
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 on 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 on 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 in the past week have been fuelled 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 Defence 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.
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West Australian
3 days ago
- West Australian
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Perth Now
3 days ago
- Perth Now
French crews push back fire that reached Marseille
A wildfire that reached France's second-largest city and left 110 injured was pushed back overnight but is not yet extinguished, authorities say. Marseille Mayor Benoit Payan lifted a confinement order for tens of thousands of people, telling broadcaster France-Info that the fire was in ''net regression" on Wednesday morning. The blaze had raced towards the historical Mediterranean port city on Tuesday, forcing hundreds of people to leave and the population of an entire city district to barricade themselves indoors on official orders. Spurred by hot summer winds, the fire grounded all flights to and from Marseille and halted train traffic in most of the surrounding area on Tuesday. Train, road and plane traffic remained complicated on Wednesday. The mayor said 110 people were treated for smoke inhalation and related injuries. More than 1000 firefighters were deployed to tackle the fire, which broke out near the town of Les Pennes-Mirabeau before racing towards Marseille. Some 720 hectares were hit by the blaze, the prefecture said. The prefecture described the fire as ''particularly virulent". It came on a cloudless, windy day after a lengthy heat wave around Europe left the area parched and at heightened risk for wildfires. Several have broken out in southern France in recent days, including one in the Aude region that has burned 2000 hectares and continued to rage on Wednesday. Smoke gave the sky over Marseille's old port a dusty aspect as water-dropping planes tried to extinguish the fire in the outskirts of the city, which has some 900,000 inhabitants.

ABC News
3 days ago
- ABC News
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