Firefighters contain wildfires in Turkey's Izmir and Bolu provinces

  • 2 weeks ago

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Transcript
00:00The hills of Izmir, on Turkey's Aegean coast, blackened by the flames.
00:04Vegetation here has been ravaged by wildfire over the past several days.
00:09Residents who had been evacuated finding nothing but ruins upon their return.
00:15It was a disaster when the fire broke out.
00:18We tried to intervene as much as we could but we failed.
00:21We couldn't save the animals.
00:22We lost them all.
00:24I had 12 sheep.
00:26I also had chickens and dogs.
00:28They all burned.
00:30Farming and livestock are a critical source of revenues here.
00:34To try and save their belongings, some residents had defied authorities' evacuation orders
00:39and returned home as the fire swept through.
00:44The gendarmerie forced us out.
00:46We came back illegally to save our village.
00:50If we had not stayed, this village would have been completely gone.
00:55Victims now counting on government compensation to help them recover.
01:00The fires are Turkey's worst of the season so far.
01:04They broke out late Thursday, at one point threatening the city of Izmir,
01:08the third most populous in the country.
01:10Nearly two dozen buildings were damaged there.
01:13No human fatalities have been reported.
01:16Several people have been detained in connection with the fires.
01:20Low humidity, high temperatures and strong winds
01:23continuing to raise the risk of wildfires in northwest Turkey over the coming days
01:28as climate change exacerbates fire risk across the Mediterranean region.

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