According to Turkish media and authorities on Saturday, hundreds more people were evacuated throughout the course of the previous night as firefighters battled a large forest fire in the Aegean tourist city of Izmir for a third day.
The NTV news station said that on Saturday morning, helicopters and water bombers that had been forced to land because of high winds resumed their battle against the fire.
The fire began on Thursday, and its rapid spread to residential areas was attributed to gusts exceeding fifty miles per hour.
900 people from five impacted areas in Izmir were evacuated over night, according to Turkish Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya.
The third-most populous city in Turkiye was enveloped in a cloud of smoke, according to a witness who spoke to AFP. The smoke had given the sky a grey colour.
Agriculture and Forestry Ministry Ibrahim Yumakli said that citizens of the city shouldn’t be “worried” and added, “At this time, two planes and eleven helicopters are continuing to intervene.”
The ministry estimated that the impacted area was 1,600 hectares (3,900 acres).
Six more fires are still raging in forest regions in other Turkish towns, such as Aydin in the west and Bolu in the northwest.
Using 32 fire vehicles, 11 water tankers, and five bulldozers, more than 300 people are actively combating fires in the Bozdogan area of Aydin, Anadolu Agency reported.
In the Karsikaya area, the fire has already burned sixteen buildings and caused 45 businesses and 87 dwellings to be evacuated.
The fire also forced the evacuation of an animal shelter, and the city’s Bayrakli and Cigli districts have been negatively impacted by smoke from the blazing woodlands.
According to scientists, heatwaves and other severe weather events are more common, persistent, and intense due to climate change.
