Turkish firefighting forces were called to battle numerous fire fronts over the past 24 hours in İzmir, Denizli, Aydın, and Manisa, APA reports citing protothema.gr.
The forest fire that broke out on the borders of the Menderes and Seferihisar regions spread to residential areas, forcing authorities to evacuate at least 10 settlements, most of them in the Seferihisar area. The fire was visible even from the Greek islands, while ashes reached as far as Patmos.
As announced by Justice Minister Yılmaz Tunç, in the context of the investigation initiated by the İzmir Republic Prosecutor’s Office regarding the fire in the Buca area of İzmir province, one suspect was arrested for arson with gasoline. According to Tunç, 17 suspects have been arrested in connection with forest fire investigations in various provinces between June 26 and 28.
Indicatively, 77 fires broke out across Türkiye on Sunday—53 of them in forests. A total of 1,459 fires were dealt with in one month. Several houses in Seferihisar were destroyed by the fire, which has been raging for over 12 hours. Due to strong winds, aerial intervention was limited, with Turkish authorities hoping that more aircraft will be able to fly today.
Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı stated that 9 of the forest fires across the country were large, and that the fires in Manisa Akhisar, İzmir Kuyucak, and Doğanbey remain uncontrolled.
“Yesterday, there were 77 fires in our country. 53 of them were outside forests. I don’t want to label them strictly as forest or non-forest fires; I want to emphasize that we are not just dealing with wildfires here, but rather a full-blown battle. Nine of these fires were major. Of those, Akhisar in Manisa, Kuyucak in İzmir, and Doğanbey are still ongoing. All three fires are serious,” he said.
Yumaklı stated that the fire in Akhisar, Manisa, which had been partially brought under control, reignited due to wind. Other fires were brought under control through the intensive efforts of the teams. He noted that in İzmir, wind speeds reached up to 120 km/h in some areas, posing a crash risk to aircraft.
