The Japan Times - Turkey, Bulgaria battle wildfires amid Mediterranean heatwave

There have been at least 14 deaths in the past week in Turkey and about 20 villages have been evacuated, according to officials.

In neighbouring Bulgaria, emergency services fought more than 160 wildfires across the country on Monday. Greece also struggled to clear up after a week of forest fires and Spanish planes went to help Portuguese firefighters tackling a blaze on a remote mountain.

"We are burning up, we don't even know where to go anymore," Asmin Gezginci, 24, said while returning from a park to her home in the Kurdish-majority southeastern Turkish city of Diyarbakir.

Temperatures soared to a record high of 50.5 degrees Celsius (123 Fahrenheit) on Friday in Silopi, two hours from Gezginci's home.

According to forecasts, the temperatures will remain fiery this week with 45C to 50C heat expected in southeast Turkey on Tuesday.

On Monday, authorities in Diyarbakir warned residents that temperatures would remain above the seasonal average until August 2. The thermometer was already showing 45.4C at midday Monday.

The heatwave has exacerbated forest fires that have spread rapidly in windy conditions.

Firefighters tackled blazes around Bursa in the northwest, Turkey's fourth-largest city and a major industrial centre, for the third consecutive day.

Amid strong winds that fanned the flames, some residents used tractors to transport water tanks, while television images showed others rushing toward the fires carrying bottles of water.

- Response 'sometimes limited' -

"Given the size and intensity of the fires, the state's ability to respond quickly to such disasters is sometimes limited," Turkish Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli acknowledged.

"If there is 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.

In a televised speech, President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said 96 percent of the fires were caused by human activity such as cigarette butts and picnic fires.

He said more than 3,000 fires have broken out since the beginning of summer and some have been arson.

"Let us not forget that this is a war, a defence of our green homeland, against this insidious enemy," Erdogan said.

Last week, one wildfire killed at least 10 forest workers and rescuers fighting a blaze near Eskisehir in western Turkey.

A firefighter battling the flames died of a heart attack on Saturday. Three more people died Sunday in an accident involving a water tanker truck, Bursa authorities said.

Authorities say the risk of fires will remain high until October. And a UN report on desertification worldwide estimates that 88 percent of Turkey's territory is at risk: rainfall is expected to decrease 30 percent by the end of the century, while temperatures are expected to rise by 5C to 6C compared to the averages recorded between 1961 and 1990.

- New fire in Greece -

Emergency services in Bulgaria have fought more than 160 active wildfires. Some that broke out Friday destroyed about 20 homes in the village of Rani Lug close to the Serbian border.

The Black Sea nation also requested EU help, with two Swedish aircraft being deployed to help. Helicopters from Slovenia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, France and Romania were also at work on Monday.

In Greece, where blazes have ravaged homes and sparked evacuations across the country this summer, firefighters brought dozens of wildfires under control over the weekend.

But a new inferno broke out near a university campus east of Athens, in Zografou municipality. Some 65 firefighters, 20 vehicles, seven helicopters and six planes were mobilised to contain the flames, authorities said.

Greece has endured heatwave conditions for a week, with temperatures passing 40C in many areas.

On the Iberian Peninsula, four Spanish planes joined more than 250 Portuguese firefighters battling a mountain blaze in Viana do Castelo district on the Portuguese-Spanish border. The flames were spreading in two directions and difficult to tackle because of strong winds, civil protection chief Marco Domingues said.

Authorities have put much of northern and southern Portugal on the highest alert for wildfires because of heat and winds.

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S.Suzuki--JT