Wildfires threaten Turkey’s fourth-largest city as southern Europe grapples with blazes

ISTANBUL (AP) — Wildfires that have engulfed Turkey for weeks threatened the country’s fourth-largest city on Sunday, forcing more than 3,500 people to flee their homes and leaving two people 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 northwest 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.

Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli told reporters late Sunday that 3,515 people had been safely evacuated from villages to the northeast of Bursa as more than 1,900 firefighters battled the flames. The highway linking Bursa to the capital, Ankara, was closed as surrounding forests burned.

A firefighter died from a heart attack while on the job, the city’s mayor, Mustafa Bozbey, said, adding that the flames had scorched 3,000 hectares (7,413 acres) around the city. One person was killed and two seriously injured when a water tanker fell into a ravine outside Bursa, local media reported.

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.

Yumakli said fire crews across the country confronted 84 separate blazes Saturday. The country’s northwest was under the greatest threat, including Karabuk, where wildfires have burned since Tuesday and 1,839 people have been evacuated from 19 villages.

Aside from Bursa and Karabuk, a major fire was raging in Kahramanmaras, southern Turkey, the minister said, warning that growing winds could suddenly reignite fires not properly watered down after being extinguished.

Beleagured firefighters and rescue workers saved thousands of livestock and pets that had been left behind in the rush to evacuate threatened areas. Local media also showed images of workers assisting wildlife caught among the fires.

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

The General Directorate of Meteorology said Turkey recorded its highest ever temperature of 50.5 degrees Celsius (122.9 degrees Fahrenheit) in the southeastern Sirnak province on Friday. The highest temperatures for July were seen in 132 other locations, it said.

Fifteen 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 Saturday that prosecutors had investigated fires in 33 provinces since June 26, and that legal action had been taken against 97 suspects.

Overnight evacuations

In Greece, firefighters battled active wildfires in the country’s southwest and on the island of Kythera on Sunday, following a blaze that scorched the northern Athens suburb of Kryoneri on Saturday. High temperatures, reaching 38 C (100 F) 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.

The fire service reported three people hospitalized with breathing issues and one firefighter treated for burns at a military hospital.

On the island of Evia, where another fire is now under control, media reports indicate large numbers of animals perished in barns.

Fanned by strong winds

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.

National Fire Service chief Alexander Djartov told reporters that 236 wildfires were burning, many fanned by strong winds. The government had asked EU partners for help, he added, and aircraft were expected from the Czech Republic, Slovakia, France, Hungary and Sweden later Sunday.

In the southwestern Strumyani region, overnight blazes forced firefighters to retreat. They were reinforced Sunday by soldiers. Dozens of people fled their homes in the western Tran region as flames threatened villages near the Serbian border.

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Associated Press writers Veselin Toshkov in Sofia, Bulgaria, and Demetris Nellas in Athens contributed to this report.