16 thousand hectares of land razed in forest fires in Muğla’s Milas

* Photo: Ömer Evren Atalay - AA

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The Milas Municipality has released a statement about the current situation in the district amid forest fires on its social media account.

According to the statement of the Municipality, "the fire ravaged the Gürceğiz and Akçakaya neighborhoods as of 9.44 this morning."

"The fire in Gürceğiz has been taken under control; there are now cooling efforts," the Municipality has said, raising concerns that the flames are now approaching the Bayırköy Village: "Intense measures have been taken around Yeniköy Thermal Plant. As the fire has approached the Bayırköy Neighborhood, the efforts around the plant have been stepped up."

"With the hard efforts of the neighborhood residents, people have started taking measures in Bayırköy as of morning hours. The teams of the Milas Municipality's Cleaning Services Directorate have been incessantly working to clean the help points and assembly points.

"After the fire in Marmaris was put up, the teams who left Marmaris have come to Milas. There are now several teams ready at the land intervention point in Milas," the Milas Municipality has stated.

The fire was raging in the forests of Gürceğiz and Bayırköy villages and two helicopters were contributing to the firefighting efforts.

The municipal police of Milas have also reportedly rescued a dog that escaped from the fire in Gürceğiz yesterday (August 5). After the first intervention was made and the dog was given food and water, it was taken to the Animal Shelter of the Milas Municipality for treatment.

The statement of the Municipality has also indicated that by August 5 at 23.08 pm, 16,069 hectares of land were razed in the fires in Milas, which accounts for nearly 22.5 football fields.

The Mayor of Milas, in a statement two hours ago, announced that the fire in Gürceğiz was taken under control. (AÖ/SD)