Wildfires threaten Turkey’s fourth-largest city” 3,500 people had to flee their homes and two people died.
The General Directorate of Meteorology said Turkey recorded its highest ever temperature of 50.5° Celsius in the southeastern Sirnak province on Friday.Wildfires that have engulfed Turkey for weeks threatened the country’s fourth-largest city on Sunday, July 27, forcing more than 3,500 people to flee their homes and leaving two people dead. Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro are also battling blazes fed by unusually high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds.os Angeles fire — Wildfires that have engulfed Turkey for weeks threatened the country’s fourth-largest city Sunday, forcing more than 3,500 people to flee their homes and leaving two people dead.
Greece, Bulgaria and Montenegro are also battling blazes fed by unusually high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds.
Overnight fires in the forested mountains surrounding Bursa in northwestern Turkey spread rapidly, tinting the night sky over the city’s eastern suburbs with a red glow. Dozens of severe wildfires have hit the country daily since late June, with the government declaring the two western provinces of Izmir and Bilecik as disaster areas Friday.
Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli told reporters late Sunday that 3,515 people had been safely evacuated from villages to the northeast of Bursa as more than 1,900 firefighters battled the flames. The highway linking Bursa to the capital, Ankara, was closed as surrounding forests burned.
A firefighter died from a heart attack while on the job, said Bursa’s mayor, Mustafa Bozbey, adding that the blaze had scorched more than 7,400 acres around the city. Another person was killed and two seriously injured when a water tanker fell into a ravine outside Bursa, local media reported.
Orhan Saribal, an opposition parliamentarian for the province, described the scene as “an apocalypse.”
