Wildfires claim lives in İzmir as Türkiye battles fierce blazes
IZMIR
Raging wildfires in the western province of İzmir’s Çeşme, Ödemiş, and Buca districts, alongside the southern province of Mersin’s Gülnar, have left a trail of destruction, claiming two lives in Ödemiş as exhaustive firefighting efforts continue across Türkiye.
Türkiye is facing a high-risk wildfire season, with numerous blazes erupting across the country in recent days.
A forestry worker and an 80-year-old resident perished as flames, driven by fierce winds, tore through the region, challenging the nation’s one of the largest-ever firefighting operations.
In Ödemiş, the blaze spread rapidly, engulfing a vast area and claiming the life of a forestry worker, hailed as a martyr, and an 80-year-old bedridden man unable to escape.
Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı revealed another worker is fighting for life in intensive care.
“These losses weigh heavily on us,” Yumaklı said at the Forestry General Directorate’s Fire Management Center.
“Yet we remain committed to extinguishing these fires in honor of those we’ve lost.”
Local media footage also showed residents scrambling to save their livestock, loading animals onto trucks and tractors or herding them on foot to safer locations.
Elderly residents received assistance from both security forces and neighbors as they fled.
In Buca district, another fire that erupted on July 3 caused thick smoke to cover the sky and forced the evacuation of some hobby gardens and residential areas.
Dozens of firefighting vehicles, planes and helicopters continued round-the-clock efforts to contain the blaze.
Firefighters and emergency crews faced extreme danger battling the blaze, with harrowing moments captured showing teams trapped amid intense flames and thick smoke.
Authorities detained two suspects who are under investigation for allegedly causing the fire by using a spiral-cutting machine near a waste site.
Meanwhile, by the morning of July 4, firefighters had gained control over another major fire near the resort town of Çeşme, some 80 kilometers (50 miles) west of İzmir, Yumaklı said.
The firefighters' "intense work overnight and the air intervention that resumed at dawn have brought the fire in Çeşme under control," he wrote on social media.
With the fire under control in Çeşme, the road linking the peninsular to İzmir was reopened, local media reported.
Elsewhere, fires in Antalya, Adana’s Ceyhan, Kırklareli, and İstanbul’s Silivri were subdued, the latter contained by 9:00 p.m. on July 3.
A blaze in Uşak’s Eşme, sparked by a baling machine in a rural field, was also brought under control after seven hours.
Yumaklı reported that 624 wildfires erupted nationwide in the past week, with 622 now contained.
Since January, Türkiye has faced 3,044 fires, including 1,305 in forests, tackled by a force of 25,000 personnel and a record-breaking air and ground fleet.
“Our 16,035 sorties have dropped 52,000 tons of water,” he said, underscoring the scale of the response.
He likened the week’s blazes in İzmir, Sakarya, Hatay, and beyond to the devastating 2021 fires, crediting advanced resources for averting worse outcomes.
The minister issued a stern warning against lighting fires amid forecasts of high winds and scorching heat.
“A single spark can ignite disaster,” he said, pointing to a preventable Buca fire that strained resources needed in Ödemiş.
Yumaklı also condemned disinformation, urging the public to support the firefighting effort.
“Our teams are giving their all. Türkiye’s 86 million citizens must stand with them,” he said.
With extreme weather expected to persist, authorities remain on high alert until mid-October. Yumaklı called for vigilance, emphasizing prevention over reaction.
Izmir governor Suleyman Elban said the main problem had been wind speeds of up to 85 kilometers per hour (53 miles per hour) and their constant changes of direction.
"So the intervention from both land and air is seriously challenging," he told reporters.
Firefighters backed by fire engines and firefighting aircraft were battling the flames, he added.
Both fires in the province, as well as others over the weekend and since controlled, had been caused by power cables, he said.
