Turkey and France battle wildfires, residents evacuated

Thousands of people were evacuated due to a wildfire in Turkey’s southwestern Datca peninsula, as firefighters battled on Thursday to contain the blazes fanned by strong winds that spread to residential areas overnight.

Forestry Minister Vahit Kirisci said preliminary investigations showed the fire broke out at an electrical transformer around midday on Wednesday.

“What makes our job a little more difficult is the wind effect, the direction and intensity of which are unpredictable,” he said early on Thursday.

Turkey’s Disaster Management Authority (AFAD) said some 450 houses and 3,530 people were evacuated as fires reached residential areas in the sparsely populated parts of the peninsula.

Footage from Wednesday showed smoke billowing from the woodlands as helicopters doused water on the blazes while the flames spread. It also showed the garden of a house engulfed in smoke, with trees in the yard catching fire.

The Mugla province mayor’s office said 17 houses and 728 hectares of land were affected by the fire. It shared data that showed winds in the region had eased significantly on Thursday morning.

Health Minister Fahrettin Koca said 19 people had been affected by the fire and nine of them were still being treated as of Thursday morning.

Authorities said 10 planes and 20 helicopters, including one that can operate at night, were involved in the efforts to douse the flames.

The blazes in southwestern Turkey conjured memories of last year’s summer fires that ravaged 140,000 hectares (345,950 acres) of countryside, the worst on record.

Another fire that broke out in the Aegean resort town of Cesme was contained on Thursday morning, the forestry authority said.

In southern France about 1,000 firefighters, supported by six water-bomber aircraft, were battling on Thursday to bring under control two wildfires that have already burnt almost 4,000 hectares.

“The fires are still not under control, no casualties were reported” said the local authority for the Gironde department, where the blazes, which started on Tuesday, were raging.

France, already hit by a series of wildfires over the last few weeks, is suffering – like the rest of Europe – from a second heatwave in as many months.

“Since the start of the year, 15,000 hectares have been burnt in the country, versus a little less than 1,000 hectares at the same date last year … nine fires out of 10 have a human cause,” Interior minister Gerald Darmanin told reporters on Wednesday night.

Elsewhere in Europe, thousands of firefighters battled more than 20 blazes that raged on Wednesday across Portugal and western Spain, menacing villages and disrupting tourists’ holidays amid a heatwave that pushed temperatures above 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit) in some parts of the region.

The biggest of the two Gironde fires is around the town of Landiras, south of Bordeaux, where roads have been closed and 500 residents evacuated, with the blaze having already burnt 2,100 hectares (5,190 acres).

The other one is along the Atlantic Coast, close to the iconic “Dune du Pilat” – the tallest sand dune in Europe – located in the Arcachon Bay area, above which heavy clouds of dark smoke were seen rising in the sky.

That fire has already burnt 1,750 hectares and led to the preventive evacuation on Wednesday of 6,000 people from five surrounding campsites. Another 60 people were evacuated early on Thursday.