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Al Jazeera
05-07-2025
- Climate
- Al Jazeera
Izmir, villages in Turkiye affected by wildfires now under control
A forestry worker injured in a wildfire in the western Turkish province of Izmir has died from his injuries, raising the death toll in recent days from the fires to three, as the blaze in villages of the Odemis district was brought under control but emergency crews continued to battle one in a province bordering Syria. Worker Ragip Sahin 'who was injured while fighting the fire in Odemis and was being treated in hospital, has died', Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said on Saturday in a post on X. Yumakli also said the blaze in Odemis had been brought under control by Friday evening alongside six other wildfires, mostly in western and central Turkiye. He added that firefighters were still trying to control a blaze in the southern coastal area of Dortyol in Hatay province. Turkiye was mostly spared the recent searing heatwaves that engulfed the rest of southern Europe, but firefighters have battled more than 600 fires since June 26 in the drought-hit nation, which have been prompted by high winds. The fire in Odemis, about 100km (60 miles) east of the resort city of Izmir, had on Thursday killed a bedridden 81-year-old man and a backhoe operator who died while helping firefighting efforts. In a video on X, Odemis Mayor Mustafa Turan said the fire had ravaged about 5,000 hectares (12,400 acres) of land. 'The fire came violently to this area, there is nothing left to burn. About 5,000 hectares was reduced to ashes,' said Turan. On Monday, rescuers evacuated more than 50,000 people to escape a string of fires. 'According to the authorities, the fires that lasted for four days started in Tusurman village … you can still see smoke coming out from this evacuated village,' said Al Jazeera's Sinem Koseoglu, reporting from Odemis. 'Nothing is left in this village, no one is living here and there is nothing left to reside in. After the fires erupted due to electrical cables in this village, it quickly spread to the nearby villages on this side and then to other villages. Just on the first night [of the wildfires], authorities had to evacuate five villages,' she added. 'For citizens of Turkiye living in the valleys and forests, life is becoming more difficult every year as climate change brings more wildfires. And this year, wildfires came earlier than expected to Turkiye,' said Koseoglu. Turkiye sends help to Syria In the meantime, 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. Turkiye also sent two firefighting aircraft on Saturday to help neighbouring Syria battle wildfires in its northwest Latakia region. Eleven fire trucks and water support vehicles were also dispatched, according to Raed al-Saleh, the Syrian Minister of Emergency and Disaster Management. Turkiye's Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said 44 suspects have been detained in relation to 65 fires that broke out across the country, which led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people and damaged some 200 homes. According to the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) website, there have been 96 wildfires in Turkiye this year that have ravaged more than 49,652 hectares (122,700 acres) of land. Experts say human-driven climate change is causing more frequent and intense wildfires and other natural disasters, and have warned Turkiye to take measures to tackle the problem.
The Sun
04-07-2025
- Climate
- The Sun
Devastating wildfires spread in Turkey leaving two dead & forcing thousands to evacuate as city's mayor pleads for help
AT least two people have died and thousands have been evacuated as devastating wildfires continue to rage in Turkey. Firefighters have been battling more than 600 fires fuelled by high winds in the drought-hit nation over the past week. 6 6 6 6 The wildfires first erupted in tourist hotspot areas Kuyucak and Doganbey fanned overnight by winds which reached 25-30mph. While authorities managed to gain control over some of the wildfire patches - a major fire near the resort town of Cesme - they were still battling two other wildfires. One of them is in Buca, just south of Izmir, and another in Odemis - about 64 miles further east where an 81-year-old man died on Thursday. "The village was evacuated but an elderly, bedridden patient could not be saved," said Salih Uzun, a lawmaker in Izmir for the main opposition CHP party. A forest worker in the same area died as he battled the blazes, the country's agriculture minister Ibrahim Yumakli said on X. Forecasters said temperatures were set to rise over the weekend and would reach around 40 degrees Celsius early next week. The motorway connecting Izmir and Aydin to the southeast was closed because of the Buca fire, which began at 4:00 pm on Thursday and spread quickly due to the wind, CNN Turk said. It said two people who had been cutting iron for use in construction had been arrested on suspicion of starting the fire. In a Facebook post that has since been shared thousands of times, the Mayor of Odemis Mustafa Turan was seen desperately pleading for help. One local said: "The magnitude and frightening dimensions of the fire are frightening the people of Odemis." Brutal Turkey fires spread fuelling travel chaos at tourist airports as 'petrol arsonist' arrested & 1,000 fight blazes Earlier, two other fires broke out -- one in the southern resort of Antalya and the second in Istanbul's Sultan Gazi forest. They were quickly contained by firefighters, officials said. Footage from Antalya showed flames raging in a forested area near a residential area in Lara, a popular tourist resort with many large hotels. Planes were seen dumping large supplies of water over fiery infernos in order to combat the blazes. And local residents watched in horror as their homes were torched up and forestry continued to burn. Aftermath photos showed scorched cars and buildings while firefighters worked desperately to fight the flames. Foreign Minister Yumakli said: "Our heroes continue their relentless struggle against the flames under the toughest conditions, day and night, with all their might." 6 6 Some 122 fire engines, 74 water tankers and 84 heavy machines have been deployed alongside more than a thousand people who are desperately working to extinguish the flames, Yumakli added. Since Friday, hundreds of fires have been reported across drought-hit Turkey, fuelled by high winds. On Monday, more than 50,000 people were evacuated, mostly in the Izmir area but also from the southern province of Hatay, the AFAD disaster management agency said. According to figures on the European Forest Fire Information System (EFFIS) website, there have been 90 wildfires in Turkey so far this year that have ravaged more than 35,082 hectares (86,689 acres) of land. The figure on Monday was nearly 15,000 hectares destroyed in 65 fires. Turkey 's Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said that 17 suspects linked to fires between June 26 and 28 had been detained.
