Firefighters battled wildfires across Turkey on Sunday amid a searing Mediterranean heatwave, with authorities evacuating more than 3,600 people from settlements in two provinces.
Wildfires in the southern provinces of Mersin and Antalya as well as the central province of Usak were largely brought under control, but blazes in the northwestern province of Bursa and the northern province of Karabük were still burning, minister for agriculture and forestry Ibrahim Yumakli told reporters.
A wildfire broke out in a forested area between the Gürsu and Kestel districts of Bursa, home to much of Turkey’s auto industry, on Saturday. Part of a highway connecting Istanbul with the western city of Izmir was briefly closed on Saturday night due to the fire.
Huge flames engulfed trees in areas close to homes in Bursa as smoke covered the sky over the city, footage showed.
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Some 1,765 people in Bursa’s Kestel district were evacuated, Mr Yumakli said, adding that 2,000 firefighters were struggling to battle the wildfire in the area with the help of six firefighting planes and four helicopters.
In the northern province of Karabuk, where a large wildfire has been burning for five days, 1,839 people in 19 villages were evacuated, Mr Yumakli said. Three planes and 16 helicopters are tackling the blazes in the area amid difficult conditions, he added.
“We are going through risky times. This does not seem likely to end in two or three days,” Mr Yumakli added, referring to the heatwave.
Temperatures in several regions in Turkey were forecast to reach over 40 degrees on Sunday, six to 12 degrees above seasonal norms, Turkey’s meteorological service said, as thermometers hit 50 degrees in the country’s southeast on Saturday for the first time in recorded history.
Firefighters were also battling wildfires across Greece and the Western Balkans on Saturday as the south of Europe sweltered under the third heatwave of the summer, with some villages and settlements also being evacuated in Greece and Albania.
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Explosions could be heard as huge clouds of smoke covered Drosopigi village 25km north of Athens, where factories with flammable material are located. Helicopters dropped water and 145 firefighters battled the flames, assisted by 44 vehicles, seven helicopters and 10 aircraft.
Two houses caught fire while residents of the nearby village of Krioneri were instructed by authorities to leave towards Athens. Five people were taken to hospitals over burns and smoke inhalation.
Temperatures in Greece were forecast to reach up to 44 degrees on Saturday, the Greek weather service said.
“In the last 24 hours alone, 52 agroforestry fires broke out, 44 of which were dealt with immediately, in their initial stage,” said Vassilios Vathrakogiannis, a spokesman for the fire brigade.
In neighbouring Albania, 26 fires broke out throughout the country on Saturday, following a large fire near the southern Albanian town of Delvina on Friday which injured three people and forced the evacuation of about 2,000 residents.
On the Greek island of Evia, 128 firefighters and 29 vehicles were deployed to put out fires, assisted by six aircraft and seven helicopters, but strong winds were hampering their efforts.
Residents of the island’s Triada area were evacuated while two fire trucks were damaged and five firefighters injured during the operation.
The fire on Evia is the latest in a series of bushfires stoked by strong winds and dry conditions this month.
On the island of Kythera, residents from several settlements were evacuated to safe areas and coastguard forces said they rescued 138 people, including an infant, from the beach of Limnionas near the area of the fire.
In the area of Messenia, south of Athens, residents of the Kryoneri and Sellas villages were also told to leave.
These sites were on a list of Greek regions on high alert for wildfires due to record-breaking temperatures and strong winds.
In Kosovo, authorities managed to extinguish 17 fires fuelled by strong winds while 12 others remained active, officials said. In the southern town of Prizren, a fire engulfed a farm, killing eight cows, according to local emergency services.
Local media reported that a separate fire in eastern Kosovo killed about 40 sheep.
Dozens of beachgoers in Sardinia were forced to flee by boat on Sunday when a huge wildfire broke out nearby, blocking other escape routes, firefighters on the Italian island said.
Black smoke could be seen rising from the beach in Villasimius in the south of the island.
Strong winds were hindering rescue efforts, firefighters said in a statement, adding that several cars had been burned.
Greece and other Mediterranean countries are in an area dubbed “a wildfire hotspot” by scientists, with fires common during hot and dry summers. These have become more destructive in recent years due to a fast-changing climate, prompting calls for a new approach.
– Reuters
