Azernews.Az

By Vugar Khalilov

Azerbaijan has successfully completed its duties in helping Turkey fighting wildfires, Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations Etibar Mirzayev told local media.

“Over the past period, together with local firefighters, we have taken measures to extinguish fires and cool the sources of fires. The main goal was to prevent the spread of fires to strategic facilities and settlements,” Mirzayev stressed.

Mirzayev said that wildfires in Turkey were fully extinguished as of August 12.

It should be noted that Azerbaijan sent three fire-fighting groups and equipment to support Turkey in fighting the wildfires.

The first fire-fighting forces (100 fire-fighters) departed to Turkey on July 30 and the second group (1 helicopter, 53 fire engine and special rescue equipment, 1 ambulance, 220 fire-fighters and rescuers) on July 31.

On August 5, the third group - 150 fire-fighters, along with 40 pieces of fire-fighting equipment and one BE-200CS amphibious aircraft were sent by Azerbaijan to Turkey to fight wildfires that have swept through the country.

Moreover, on August 2, senior officials of Azerbaijan’s Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) headed by Deputy Minister Etibar Mirzayev arrived in Turkey to discuss the fire-fighting measures with their Turkish counterparts.

At least eight people died and 60,000 hectares of forest area was damaged in wildfires in Turkey’s southeastern regions.

According to the Turkish Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, 15,000 decares of agricultural land in the region was damaged and nearly 33,000 animals died during the wildfires.

The wildfires broke out on 28 July near the Mediterranean coastal resort town of Manavgat, in Antalya province and spread to other regions across Turkey.

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