Marmaris wildfire completely under control: Minister

MUĞLA

A wind-stoked wildfire that has been raging near a popular resort in southwestern Turkey has been completely brought under control, Agriculture and Forestry Minister Vahit Kirişçi said on June 25.

The blaze erupted Tuesday in the Bördubet region, near Marmaris on the Aegean Sea coast, and spread rapidly, blackening swaths of pine forest and driving hundreds of people from their homes.

An estimated 4,000 hectares (nearly 9,900 acres) of forest was affected by the fire. Reforestation efforts would begin as soon as possible, President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan said. 

The arsonist who started the wildfires late was detained late on June 23 and arrested early June 24.

The 34-year-old Sacit Ayhan admitted that he started the fires after getting furious about a “commercial dispute inside the family.”

“My family was going to give me land. But then, they renounced. Then we quarreled,” Ayhan said in his first police testimony.

“Under the influence of alcohol, I bought gasoline in plastic bottles, went to the forest and started the fire,” he added.