Wildfires threaten Turkish city as southern Europe grapples with blazes

Wildfires that have engulfed Turkey for weeks are now threatening the country’s fourth-largest city, forcing more than 1,700 people to flee their homes and leaving one firefighter 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 north-west 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 on Friday.

The Bursa governor’s office said that 1,765 people had been safely evacuated from villages to the north-east as more than 1,900 firefighters battled the flames.

The major road linking Bursa to the capital, Ankara, was closed as surrounding forests burned.

A firefighter died from a heart attack while on duty, the city’s mayor Mustafa Bozbey said, adding that the flames had scorched 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) around the city.

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

Forestry minister Ibrahim Yumakli said fire crews across the country confronted 84 separate blazes on Saturday.

The country’s north-west was under the greatest threat, including Karabuk, where wildfires have burned since Tuesday and 1,839 people have been evacuated from 19 villages.

The minister warned that growing winds could suddenly reignite fires not properly watered down after being extinguished.

Beleaguered firefighters and rescue workers also saved thousands of livestock and pets that had been left behind in the rush to evacuate threatened areas.

Unseasonably high temperatures, dry conditions and strong winds have been fuelling the wildfires.

The General Directorate of Meteorology said Turkey recorded its highest ever temperature of 50.5C in the south-eastern Sirnak province on Friday. The highest temperatures for July were seen in 132 other locations, it said.

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

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

In Greece, firefighters battled active wildfires in the country’s south-west and on the island of Kythera on Sunday, following a blaze that scorched the northern Athens suburb of Kryoneri on Saturday.

Temperatures reaching 38C or more persist across much of the country, though winds have eased slightly.

In Kryoneri, 27 residents were evacuated overnight with police assistance after some initially ignored warnings. Authorities urged the public to comply with evacuation orders, warning that resistance puts both civilians and rescuers in danger.

On Bulgaria’s southern borders with Greece and Turkey, as well as the western Serbian frontier, firefighters battled wildfires as the government declared the worst-hit provinces disaster zones.

Residents across nearly half the country were issued with a code red warning, the highest level.