‘Firefighting aircraft has to leave without putting out the fire'

* Photo: Anadolu Agency (AA)

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The Turunç Neighborhood in Muğla's Marmaris is one of the places razed by forest fires in Turkey for the past seven days.

Expected yesterday (August 3), the much-needed aerial firefighting support was offered to the region in the evening hours.

Following a brief intervention with helicopters in the Turunç neighborhood in Marmaris the other day, the forest fire started again.

CLICK - 'Everyone has been crying, asking for firefighting aircraft'

A helicopter arrived in the region at 6 pm yesterday and poured water on the fire nearly three times from the sea. Afterwards, the planes sent by Spain also made hard efforts to put out the fire; however, they left the region without fully extinguishing the forest fire in Turunç.

Not fully put out, the fire is now continuing on the Turunç hill. The Amos and Kumlubük areas have also been burning fiercely.

Speaking to bianet about the current situation in the Turunç neighborhood, bianet's design consultant Ali Seçkin Karayol from Turunç says that the firefighting aircraft, be that planes or helicopters, has to leave the area without fully extinguishing the fire.

'They left without putting out the fire'

Karayol shares the following information from Turunç:

"A helicopter came at 6 pm yesterday. It poured water a couple of times. Then, it left the area; it must be because it understood that it was not enough. Shortly afterwards, at around 6.45 pm, the two planes coming from Spain sortied a few times in the air and started the firefighting efforts.

"The planes worked very hard for 45-50 minutes. They took water from the sea, came towards Marmaris and poured the water. They left at around 7.45 pm. I think it was because it was getting dark.

"The fire naturally did not die down. It, of course, slowed down, but in the meantime, while we were looking from here, we saw that there were very strong bursts of flames, especially in the Amos area.

"As for Turunç, we saw that smoke was coming from the steep areas. Three Anti-Riot Water Cannon Vehicles (TOMA) and road opening vehicles came at night. A pathway was opened towards the depths of the forest, a line was set up there. The TOMAs were positioned there. People also gathered there for help. Apart from this, the fire has been fiercely raging in Amos and Kumlubük. The road has been closed, too."

'They are trying to be everywhere'

"We see the following about the aerial vehicles: A helicopter comes and works for 15 minutes. It slows down the speed of the fire, but, then, it goes to another area and works there. They have to constantly go from one place to another over this peninsula. I am grateful that the entire team is making very intense efforts. May god bless them. But I think due to the shortage of aerial vehicles, they have to leave the region without fully putting out the fire. They slow down the speed of the fire here, then, they move on to another region.

"I, of course, do not know the technical side of the issue, but what the people here see is if they had stayed here a bit longer, the fire would have been fully extinguished. They are trying to come to the help of all places.

"It has been seven days since the fire broke out here, we can understand what is what now. The same thing happened two days ago. A helicopter came, it worked for half an hour and left without fully putting out the fire. Then, the fire broke out again. We can now guess what will come out of a little smoke within a day. I do not know if it is possible to fully extinguish the fire in the region, this is the technical side of the issue. But when you look at it from here, you say, 'I wish they had worked for another 30 minutes so that the fire here would have been fully extinguished'." (AÖ/SD)