Turkiye Battles Wildfires Amid Strong Winds, Heatwave

Istanbul: Firefighters were battling several blazes across Turkiye on Monday when the country sweltered in a summer heatwave, officials said.

Wildfires across Turkiye over the past week have led to at least 14 deaths.

Nineteen villages and more than 3,500 people have been evacuated from their homes.

Residents and firefighters attempt to extinguish a wildfire as smoke and flames rise from a forested area in the Gursu district of Bursa early on July 27, 2025. (Photo by ONUR YURTSEVER / AFP)

Turkiye is experiencing a heatwave that peaked with temperatures above 40C across much of the country last week and even reached a record high of 50.5C on Friday in the far southeast, in Silopi, near the Iraqi and Syrian borders.

Firefighters are currently battling blazes around the city of Bursa in the northwest, the Karabuk region in the north and the Kahramanmaras region in the south.

"Five fires have been brought under control in four provinces," said Agriculture and Forestry minister Ibrahim Yumakli.

Emergency services and residents rest amid efforts to extinguish a wildfire in a forested area in the Gursu district of Bursa early on July 27, 2025. (Photo by ONUR YURTSEVER / AFP)

But he said the efforts were hampered by strong winds that are fanning the flames.

"Given the size and intensity of the fires, the state's ability to respond quickly to such disasters is sometimes limited," he said.

"If there's wind, there are no planes and it takes hours, even days, for you to take control," he said.

In recent days, 19 villages had to be evacuated in the Safranbolu region in the north, and more than 3,500 people around Bursa.

A horse gallops past residents and firefighters attempting to extinguish a wildfire in a forested area in the Gursu district of Bursa early on July 27, 2025. (Photo by ONUR YURTSEVER / AFP)

A firefighter battling the flames died of a heart attack on Saturday evening.

Three more people died Sunday in an accident involving a water tanker truck that was used to battle a blaze, the Bursa governorate announced.

On Wednesday, a wildfire killed at least 10 forest workers and rescuers who were battling a blaze near Eskisehir in western Turkiye.

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