𝓤𝓷𝓲𝓽𝓮𝓭 𝓝𝓮𝔀𝓼

Flames are closing in on Turkey’s fourth-largest city as wildfires that have killed at least 14 people continue to ravage the country.

More than 1,500 people have fled their homes and one firefighter has died as overnight fires in the forested mountains surrounding Bursa, in northwest Turkey, have spread rapidly.

Flames have scorched 3,000 hectares around the city and more than 1,100 firefighters have battled the flames around Bursa, while the highway linking the city to the capital, Ankara, has been closed as surrounding forests burn.

A firefighter died from a heart attack while on the job, the city’s mayor, Mustafa Bozbey, said in a statement. The governor’s office stated on Sunday that 1,765 people had been safely evacuated from villages to the northeast.

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 their efforts to battle the flames. However, TV footage revealed a barren landscape where farms and pine forests had earlier stood.

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Some 14 people have died in recent weeks, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers killed Wednesday in a fire in Eskisehir in western Turkey.

Unseasonably high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds have fuelled dozens of severe wildfires hitting the country daily since late June. The government declared two western provinces, Izmir and Bilecik, disaster areas on Friday.

Turkey’s minister of agriculture and forestry, İbrahim Yumakli, said fire crews across the country tackled 76 separate blazes on Saturday, 28 of which were in forests and 48 in rural areas, and the country’s northwest was under the greatest threat, including Karabuk, where wildfires have burned since Tuesday.

Mr Yumakli said Turkey broke an all-time temperature record on Friday of 50.5C in the southeastern city of Sirnak. Information published by the country’s General Directorate of Meteorology suggested that temperatures would rise by another 10 degrees from Saturday. The highest temperatures for July were seen in 132 other locations.

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

Minister Yumakli also shared a message to citizens: “As the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, we are on the ground fighting forest fires with our planes, helicopters, and unmanned aerial vehicles in the sky, our forest heroes on duty 24/7 on the ground, our land vehicles, AFAD, the provincial governor’s office, local governments, and non-governmental organisations.

“We are ready, but the best way to extinguish fires – cost-free, problem-free, and without paying any price – is to prevent them from starting.”