ISTANBUL (Reuters) -Firefighters in Turkey are battling wildfires in the centre of the northwestern province of Canakkale, fanned by strong winds, and hundreds of residents have evacuated in precaution, local authorities and media said on Monday.
Airplanes, helicopters, vehicles and around 700 personnel are fighting against the blazes, city governor Omer Toraman said in a post on X.
Authorities also launched precautionary evacuations in areas at risk including a university campus, military area and residential areas and urged residents to avoid unnecessary travel to keep roads clear from traffic for emergency vehicles.
The city’s airport, the Dardanelles Strait, as well as a part of the highway were shut due to the wildfires, and local television footage showed huge plumes of smoke billowing over the hills.
Water-spraying police vehicles were extinguishing blazes that spread to some residential buildings in the area according to footage from Anadolu news agency.
Temperatures in the region reached 33 degrees Celsius with a wind speed reaching up to 66 kilometers per hour, according to Turkey’s meteorological service.
Some 50 people were affected by smoke and were treated at nearby medical facilities, with no life-threatening conditions, the governor said.
(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun and Ali Kucukgocmen, Editing by Alexandra Hudson)
