Wildfires threaten Turkey's fourth-largest city as locals evacuate

Wildfires that have engulfed Turkey for weeks threatened the country’s fourth-largest city early Sunday, causing more than 1,500 people to flee their homes and leaving a firefighter dead.

Overnight fires in the forested mountains surrounding Bursa in northwest Turkey spread rapidly, tinting the night sky over the city’s eastern suburbs with a red glow. Dozens of severe wildfires have hit the country daily since late June, with the government declaring two western provinces, Izmir and Bilecik, disaster areas on Friday.

Bursa governor’s office said in a statement Sunday that 1,765 people had been safely evacuated from villages to the northeast as more than 1,100 firefighters battled the flames. The highway linking Bursa to the capital, Ankara, was closed as surrounding forests burned.

A firefighter died from a heart attack while on the job, the city's mayor, Mustafa Bozbey, said in a statement, adding that the flames had scorched 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) around the city.

Orhan Saribal, an opposition parliamentarian for the province, described the scene as "an apocalypse.”

Residents and firefighters attempt to extinguish a wildfire as smoke and flames rise from a forested area in the Gursu district of Bursa early on Sunday. AFP

By morning, lessening winds brought some respite to firefighters, who continued efforts to battle the flames. However, TV footage revealed an ashen landscape where farms and pine forests had earlier stood.

Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yamukli said fire crews across the country confronted 76 separate blazes Saturday. The country’s northwest was under the greatest threat, including Karabuk, where wildfires have burned since Tuesday, he said.

Unseasonally high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds have been fueling the wildfires.

The General Directorate of Meteorology said Turkey recorded its highest ever temperature of 50.5 degrees Celsius (122.9 degrees Fahrenheit) in the southeastern Sirnak province on Friday. The highest temperatures for July were seen in 132 other locations, it said.

Fourteen people have died in recent weeks, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers killed Wednesday in a fire in Eskisehir in western Turkey.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said late Saturday that prosecutors had investigated fires in 33 provinces since June 26, and that legal action had been taken against 97 suspects.

Associated Press