Citizens residing in summer homes surrounding Izmir’s Aliağa district are being evacuated by land and sea after a fire broke out earlier Monday.
According to local media reports, the fire originating in the Çaltıdere neighborhood of the district broke and started spreading out at around 1:30 p.m. local time (10:30 a.m. GMT).
In response to the reports of locals who witnessed the smoke, six helicopters and four planes belonging to the Izmir Regional Directorate of Forestry are currently intervening from the air, whereas 18 sprinklers, five dozers and four water supply vehicles are dispatched for action on land.
The ongoing evacuation is being carried out as part of security measures due to the flames approaching the settlements.
Aliağa District Governor Zekeriya Güney said that all the teams intervened in the fire and said: “Our priority is to prevent fire from reaching residential areas.”
“We are evacuating our citizens by both land and sea. Our citizens living in the affected region’s sites are currently being relocated,” he said.
Simultaneously, another fire broke out in the Menderes district of the city. A prompt intervention took place approximately 15 minutes after the fire erupted in the district.
Five helicopters, three planes, 14 sprinklers, four water supply vehicles and four dozers have been deployed to combat the fire on the ground.
The causes of fires remain unclear.
At the same time, the burning stubble, which was registered earlier in the Köyceğiz district of the southwestern province of Muğla, has been extinguished due to the common efforts of fire brigades and local teams of the General Directorate of Forestry (OGM).
Wildfires are common in Türkiye’s Mediterranean and Aegean regions during the arid summer months, often prompted by extremely high temperatures accompanied by fast winds, which add to the quick expansion of the fire over wider surfaces.
