Bursa, in Turkey, has been surrounded by wildfires forcing almost 2,000 people to flee their homes, while a firefighter has died battling the blazes – which have been raging since late June
Raging wildfires are threatening another popular tourist resort in Turkey.
Bursa – a favourite for holidaying Brits – was surrounded by blazes – forcing more than 1,500 people to flee homes. Dozens of severe wildfires have hit the country daily since late June, with the government declaring two western provinces, Izmir and Bilecik, disaster areas on Friday.
Bursa governor’s office said in a statement on Sunday that 1,765 people had been safely evacuated from villages to the northeast as more than 1,100 firefighters battled the flames. The highway linking Bursa to the capital, Ankara, was closed as surrounding forests burned.
A firefighter died from a heart attack while on the job, the city’s mayor, Mustafa Bozbey, said in a statement, adding that the flames had scorched 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) around the city.
Orhan Saribal, an opposition parliamentarian for the province, described the scene as “an apocalypse.” It marks the latest city to be hit by deadly blazes this summer – as destinations in Greece and Cyprus have also fallen victim to aggressive wildfires amid unseasonably high temperatures.
By Sunday morning, lessening winds brought some respite to firefighters, who continued efforts to battle the flames. But TV footage revealed an ashen landscape where farms and pine forests had earlier stood.
Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said fire crews across the country confronted 84 separate blazes on Saturday. The country’s northwest was under the greatest threat, including Karabuk, where wildfires have burned since Tuesday, he said.
Unseasonally high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds have been fuelling the wildfires. The General Directorate of Meteorology said Turkey recorded its highest ever temperature of 50.5 degrees Celsius in the southeastern Sirnak province on Friday.
The highest temperatures for July were seen in 132 other locations, it said. Fourteen people have died in recent weeks, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers killed on Wednesday in a fire in Eskisehir in western Turkey.
Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said on Saturday that prosecutors had investigated fires in 33 provinces since June 26, and that legal action had been taken against 97 suspects. On Bulgaria’s southern borders with Greece and Turkey, as well as the western Serbian frontier, firefighters battled wildfires as the government declared the worst-hit provinces disaster zones.
Residents across nearly half the country were issued with a code red warning, the highest level. National Fire Service chief Alexander Djartov told reporters that 236 wildfires were burning, many fanned by strong winds.
The government had asked EU partners for help, he added, and aircraft were expected from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Hungary and Sweden later Sunday. In the southwestern Strumyani region, overnight blazes forced firefighters to retreat. They were reinforced on Sunday by soldiers. Dozens of people fled their homes in the western Tran region as flames threatened villages near the Serbian border.
Parts of Athens in Greece have been evacuated after more than 50 wildfires broke out in 24 hours. People living in the suburb of Kryoneri, around 12.5 miles (20 km) northeast of the Greek capital, were told to move to safe areas on Saturday.
At least five people, most of them elderly with respiratory problems, have been treated in hospital for burns or smoke inhalation.