ANKARA, Turkey — Firefighters on Thursday discovered the body of an elderly man after dousing a wildfire near a village in western Turkey, while crews elsewhere continued to battle another blaze that closed a highway and forced some residents to be evacuated from their homes.
The 81-year-old-man died from smoke inhalation in a village near the town of Odemis, Suleyman Elban, the governor for Izmir province, said. His death marks the first fatality in a series of wildfires across the country that have forced thousands to flee.
A total of 37 other villagers were safely evacuated by security forces and emergency teams, Elban said.
Meanwhile, hundreds of firefighters, supported by aircraft and helicopters, were deployed to extinguish a wildfire blazing in the Aegean coastal town of Cesme, a tourism hotspot some 192 kilometers (120 miles) west of Odemis.
That wildfire, which began on Wednesday, forced the evacuation of three neighborhoods and closed roads. Television footage of the blaze showed flames burning through dried vegetation on both sides of a road.
Elban said the wildfires in Izmir province are believed to have been sparked by electrical lines, which ignited dry grass and spread rapidly due to wind.
Turkey has in the past week battled hundreds of fires across the country that were fuelled by fierce winds, scorching heat and low humidity. The fires, most of which have now been extinguished, led to the evacuation of tens of thousands of people.
(Source)