Forest fire in Mersin going on for 13 hours: Flames light up the night

Officials are trying to control the forest fire that broke out in the Gülnar district of Mersin by air and land intervention. Mersin Governor Ali Hamza Pehlivan said, “As a precaution, we evacuated 110 of our citizens from 450 households close to our neighborhoods. Since we took this precaution before the fire approached there, we did not have any health problems or similar problems with them. There are no problems in the houses and households as of now.” The flames of the forest fire, which has been going on for 13 hours, lit up the night as it got dark.

The forest fire that broke out this morning in the Karadere area of the Büyükeceli Neighborhood of Gülnar district reached the houses. 850 personnel with 11 aircraft, 29 helicopters and 138 terrain vehicles responded to the fire. In the works that lasted until the evening, the fire was prevented from reaching the settlement. The fire, which was directed to the north-eastern side with the effect of the wind, reached the borders of Silifke district from the back part of the Karayar mountain.

As it was night, the flames illuminated the surroundings. It was stated that 524 personnel, including 81 land surveyors, fire brigade, gendarmerie, police and AFAD, were currently working in the field to prevent the flames appearing at two separate points from reaching the settlements.

It was noted that support had come from Adana, Antalya, Aksaray, Konya and Karaman in addition to Mersin to extinguish the fire, continuing for 13 hours.

The teams are making intensive efforts to prevent the fire from reaching the Mersin-Antalya land route.