Blazes in Antalya reduce 100 hectares of forest to ashes

ANTALYA – Anadolu Agency

Over 250 firefighters were dispatched to extinguish the forest fires in Antalya’s Serik district, Sept. 4. AA photo

Blazes in Turkey’s mountainous Mediterranean coast of Antalya have destroyed 100 hectares of forests, local officials said.
 
A fire which erupted in Antalya’s Serik district around noon on Sept. 4 quickly spread over a vast and steep area in just a few hours, due to strong winds.
 
The firefighters have brought the fire under control significantly, officials told Anadolu Agency.
 
Eight helicopters, five planes and sixty fire trucks have been dispatched to extinguish the blazes.
 
“Fire extinguishing works will continue until the morning. At present, the blazes don’t threaten residential areas. But 100 hectares of forests have been burned down according to our initial observations,” Hasan Kaşan, a local Forestry Directorate official said.
 
Kaşan added that some of the areas the blazes had spread to were inaccessible by land and firefighters could only work to quell the flames from the air.
 
Vast areas of forested land in Turkey’s Western coast have suffered from many big forest fires this summer. Successive large fires erupted in Çanakkale, Balıkesir and Muğla’s Bodrum peninsula, reducing hectares of forests to ashes.