Forest fire season back with a vengeance
Forest fire season back with a vengeance
5 June 2006
published by www.turkishdailynews.com.tr
Thousands of hectares of forests are lost to fires every year
Ankara, Turkey — The forest fire season has begun early this year due to higher-than-average temperatures.
Several fires burnt hundreds of hectares of forest around the country over the weekend. In Sakarya 70 hectares of forestland were burnt, with Governor Nuri Okutan blaming the warm weather and strong winds as the main reason the fire affected such a huge area. The fire, erupting near the village of Hacıyakup, took 400 firefighters 27 hours to put under control. While the reason for the blaze is not known, but the Sakarya Forestry Department has banned picnics outside of designated areas.
20,000 trees burnt to ash:
In a forest fire that started near Muğla’s Milas district, 20,000 trees in a 10-hectare area were entirely destroyed, with the gendarmerie taking a mother of two into custody for starting the fire. She told officials she had thrown coals from a stove into a garbage can and by the time she realized a fire had been sparked it was too late. She was later released.
In İzmir’s Seferihisar region, a jeep owned by a former mayor caught fire as he was traveling through a forested area, which in turn resulted in a forest fire that destroyed 20 hectares.
The former mayor said his jeep caught fire as he was driving. The fire than spread to the trees after he abandoned the vehicle, he said.
