Wildfires threaten Turkiye’s fourth-largest city as locals are evacuated

ISTANBUL (AP): Wildfires that have engulfed Turkiye for weeks threatened the country’s fourth-largest city early Sunday, causing hundreds of people to flee their homes.

Overnight fires in the forested mountains surrounding Bursa in northwest Turkiye spread rapidly, bringing a red glow to the night sky over the city’s eastern suburbs.

Bursa governor’s office said in a statement Sunday that 1,765 people had been safely evacuated from villages to the northeast as more than 1,100 firefighters battled the flames. The highway linking Bursa to the capital, Ankara, was closed as surrounding forests burned.

Orhan Saribal, an opposition parliamentarian for the province, described the scene as “an apocalypse.”

By morning, lessening winds brought some respite to firefighters, who continued efforts to bring down the flames. However, TV footage revealed an ashen landscape where farms and pine forests had earlier stood.

Turkiye has been hit by dozens of wildfires daily since late June. Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yamukli said fire crews across the country confronted 76 separate blazes Saturday.

The fires are being fueled by unseasonally high temperatures, dry conditions and string winds.

The General Directorate of Meteorology said Turkiye recorded its highest ever temperature, 50.5C (122.9F) in the southeastern Sirnak province on Friday. The highest temperatures for July were seen in 132 other locations, it added.

Yamukli said the country’s northwest was under the greatest threat, including Karabuk, where wildfires have burned since Tuesday.

Thirteen people have died in recent weeks, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers killed Wednesday in a fire in Eskisehir in western Turkiye.

Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc said late Saturday that prosecutors had investigated fires in 33 provinces since June 26, adding that legal action had been taken against 97 suspects.

The severity of the fires led the government to declare two western provinces, Izmir and Bilecik, disaster areas on Friday.