Forest fire ravages 25 hectares in southwestern Turkey

Photo: AA

Click to read the article in Turkish

In Datça, a popular vacation destination located in the southwestern province of Muğla, a forest fire broke out yesterday, causing damage to 25 hectares of land.

The General Directorate of Forestry announced on social media that the fire, which started in a shrubland area due to power lines, was brought under control in the evening.

Emergency response teams are currently engaged in continuous cooling operations within the affected zone.

To combat the fire, aerial support was dispatched, consisting of six aircraft and ten helicopters, while on the ground, a fleet of 50 fire trucks and dedicated firefighters diligently fought the blaze.

In the summer of 2021, a staggering number of wildfires, surpassing 120 in count, broke out across the southern and southwestern provinces, including Muğla. That year, the country witnessed a significant escalation, with a whopping 140,000 hectares of forested land consumed by flames, a drastic increase compared to the previous year's 20,000 hectares.

The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry's data from November indicated that over 12,000 hectares of land had succumbed to wildfires in 2022.

Kontrol altında.

Muğla İli #Datça İlçesinde, makilik alanda meydana gelen orman yangını kontrol altına alındı.

Elinize, yüreğinize sağlık #OrmanınKahramanları #YeşilVatan

— Orman Genel Müdürlüğü (@OGMgovtr) June 29, 2023

(AS/VK)