Last year’s nightmares are coming to Turkish resorts – forests are already burning in Marmaris. Hundreds of specialists, planes, and helicopters put out the fire that broke out last night in three different places – which allowed us to call one of the versions of its origin a diversion, but the fire has not been extinguished yet.
According to Turkish media, the fire broke out in the area of Hisarene in Marmaris around eight o’clock in the evening, followed by outbreaks in the same province in Berdyubet-Mevka and the Gulf of Kufre. The hot weather and wind contributed to the spread of the fire. Firefighting teams of the Mugla Regional Forestry Department have been sent to the region. During daylight hours, 14 planes and 20 helicopters were again lifted into the air to extinguish the fire. 13 bulldozers and 576 personnel were also involved. The local Ministry of Emergencies claims that 1,393 people, 338 cars, and 35 units of construction equipment have been sent to the district for help.
However, so far no complete victory over the fire has been achieved. 30 houses threatened by flames in the Berdyubet and Degirmenyan districts were evacuated. In general, officials say they will make every effort to prevent last year’s nightmare. Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Vahit Kirishchi and Interior Minister Suleiman Soylu have already arrived to assess the work. In particular, according to Suleiman Soylu, versions of arson are being checked – which are inclined to the fact that the fire started at the same time in several places.
It will be recalled that forest fires in Turkey have become a real disaster for resorts. Since the beginning of July, the fire has engulfed forests in the resort provinces of Antalya and Mugla, the fire has affected many settlements, “got” and hotels. A total of 120 fires were recorded in tourist areas, most of which affected the resorts of Marmaris and Bodrum, where tourists were evacuated from hotels and more. There were also victims – in particular, a Russian fire plane that came to the rescue crashed. In total, more than 133 forest fires were recorded in the summer season of 2021, while in previous years – from 2008 to 2020, more than 43 fires were recorded per season.
Among the accused were international terrorism, as terrorist organizations claimed responsibility for the fires, greedy hotel developers who cleared the area, and even Russian tourists.