Wildfires break out in Marmaris

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Wildfires broke out at around 8 p.m. yesterday (June 21) in Marmaris, a sea resort in the southwestern province of Muğla.

Fires continue in a 250-hectare area, the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry announced later in the day.

Nearly 1,600 personnel have been deployed to respond to the fires that erupted in Amazon Bay in the Hisarönü Neighborhood. While land response continued throughout the night, aerial response with 20 helicopters and 14 planes resumed early in the morning.

Fires spread rapidly due to the high wind speed, but the speed rate dropped later, the state-run Anadolu Agency (AA) reported.

Mehmet Oktay, the mayor of Marmaris, said the authorities should deploy more aerial vehicles.

At the start of the month, 17 forest fires had occurred in a week in Muğla, which was one of the two hardest-hit provinces in last year's massive wildfires.

(AEK/VK)