Turkey’s Largest Wildfire Leaves Mugla and Antalya in Ashes

Further away from the more known fires at the touristic resorts of Marmaris and Bodrum, Turkey’s Antalya Manavgat district witnessed the country’s biggest fire disaster. It all started on 28 July 2021 and took ten days to be brought under control but only after it burned some 60,000 hectares of forest, 59 villages or neighborhoods, and hundreds of houses. Seven people were killed and more than a hundred others were injured. Over 30,000 farm animals perished in the process as well. The area mostly welcomes local tourists who come to enjoy nature especially after a hard year punctuated by lockdown and restriction periods depending on the highs and lows of the COVID pandemic. The village of Demirciler, where about 20 houses were burned down, is one of the places where the damage is the most severe. 'An announcement was made for us from the mosque at 2 am to evacuate the village. I hadn't left my home until then. This place was like heaven. To what will I look at, when I look out of my window now?' said Fatma Sari, who lives in the village with her daughter. Many people in Turkey had accused the government, which had mobilized all its resources in the region, of being inadequate in its response. 'There were no fire trucks. I tried to put out the blaze in the house myself with water bottles.' The imam of the village Ahmet Yilmaz said, 'The fire came so fast that we did not understand what was happening,' he added. The heavy rains of 07 August finally came to the rescue putting an end to the disaster that seemed endless. Amid the ashes, charred daily life objects, the rubble of what has been and is no more, the men and women of the region are still under shock and try to see what is left to salvage from their former lives. find a title