Turkey forest fire under control: Minister

• A forest fire on the Datca peninsula in southwest Turkey is brought under control, 24 hours after it began.
• Thousands of people were temporarily evacuated from the area.
• Seven aircraft and 14 helicopters are battling the blaze, which was extended to residential areas overnight by strong winds.

ISTANBUL: A forest fire on the Datca peninsula in southwest Turkey was brought under control on Thursday, 24 hours after it began, according to a government minister. Thousands of people were temporarily evacuated from the area.

The fire was reportedly extended to residential areas overnight by strong winds, and seven aircraft and fourteen helicopters are battling it, according to Forestry Minister Vahit Kirisci.

“The fire in Datca is under control. Cooling efforts continue,”he added, adding that investigators determined the blaze began at a transformer around noon on Wednesday.

As fires reached residential areas in sparsely inhabited regions of the peninsula, the Disaster Management Authority of Turkey said that around 450 houses and 3,530 individuals were evacuated.

On Wednesday footage showed smoke pouring from the trees as helicopters sprayed water on the spreading fires. It also depicted a house’s garden covered in smoke and the yard’s trees on fire.

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According to the mayor’s office for the province of Mugla, 17 homes and 728 hectares of land were impacted. Thursday morning, winds in the region had greatly diminished, according to the data supplied.

Nine patients were still being treated Thursday morning, according to Health Minister Fahrettin Koca.

France and Portugal have been struck by wildfires during the second heatwave in as many months. Scientists think human-caused climate change is worsening heatwaves.

The fires in southwestern Turkey made people think back to last year’s record-breaking summer fires, which burned 140,000 hectares of land.

According to the forestry authorities, a second fire that broke out in the Aegean tourist town of Cesme on Thursday morning was suppressed.

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