İpsala border gate reopens amid forest fires in nearby Greece

EDİRNE

The İpsala border gate, which has been closed for crossings due to an ongoing forest fire that has raged for three days in the city of Alexandroupoli in northeastern Greece near the Turkish border, has been reopened.

İpsala in the northwestern Turkish province of Edirne and the Kipi border gate on the Greek side, both temporarily closed due to the fires, have now resumed operations, providing a controlled entry and exit from the area.

However, the fires, which have been burning out of control for the past three days, have prompted the closure of the highway connected to the İpsala gate, as stated by the district governor's office. While transportation can be facilitated via side roads, the risk of these alternate routes also being closed due to the fires remains a concern.

Firefighting crews, numbering over 200 firefighters, including volunteers and police aided by aircraft, are valiantly battling the blaze that has engulfed the region. The priority is to prevent the fire from advancing toward the Dadia National Park, which had already suffered significant damage from wildfires last year.

Seven firefighters and one volunteer have been injured in their efforts and had to be transported to the hospital, according to an official statement.

With the fire risk heightened by the hot and dry conditions expected to persist until Aug. 25, meteorologists are urging heightened caution. In response to the ongoing crisis, civil protection authorities have evacuated 12 communities over the weekend, advising residents to remain indoors due to the thick smoke that blankets the region.

As the inferno rages on, the affected area has been officially declared to be in a state of emergency.

Meanwhile, a man was found dead in a wildfire raging north of Athens on Aug. 21, firefighters said, as they battled fresh blazes across the country.

"An old shepherd ran to his sheepfold to save the animals and was retrieved dead," a spokesman from the fire brigade told AFP in Boeotia, about 100 kilometers (62 miles) north of Athens.

People on a beach and in two communities near the fire were told to evacuate. Around 60 firefighters assisted by four water-bombing planes were battling the flames, an official from the fire service told AFP.