Buckets, water bottles: Villagers try to contain Turkey wildfire, plea for aerial support

Record ID: 1630047

  • Title: Buckets, water bottles: Villagers try to contain Turkey wildfire, plea for aerial support
  • Date: 2nd August 2021
  • Summary: MARMARIS, TURKEY (AUGUST 2, 2021) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF FIREFIGHTERS WORKING TO PUT OUT FLAMES IN FOREST VARIOUS OF LOCAL RESIDENTS FILLING WATER INTO BOTTLES TO PUT OUT FLAMES RESIDENT OF MARMARIS, GULHAN, FILLING WATER AND SAYING: (Turkish): "This cannot be done without aerial support my friend. What can we do?" (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) RESIDENT OF MARMARIS, GULHAN (NO SURNAME GIVEN), SAYING: "My friend, whoever is coming must come, for God's sake. For God's sake, it cannot work without a helicopter. What are we supposed to do, fly in the air? (points to people) You see this, we are here as the entire village, from the locals to others. We didn't run or anything, so the government must see this and also not run away. It must send some of its planes here." PEOPLE CARRYING BUCKETS FILLED WITH WATER RUSHING TO PUT OUT FLAMES WOMAN GIVING EMPTY BOTTLES (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) RESIDENT OF MARMARIS, GULHAN (NO SURNAME GIVEN), SAYING: "They say the number of helicopters is not enough, it's true, but why? Why don't we have firefighting planes and why are we not accepting help? These are so painful and you need to ask these to those who need to answer these. Why? Why are planes from 10-20 years ago being held in hangars and are, according to what is being said, in unusable conditions?" VARIOUS OF PEOPLE CARRYING BOTTLES AND BUCKETS FILLED WITH WATER MAN RETURNING WITH EMPTY BOTTLES (SOUNDBITE) (Turkish) UNIDENTIFIED WOMAN, SAYING: "They burned us. Our lungs are burning. This is our future. This is the future of our children. What else could I think?" (Reporter asking: Do you think efforts are sufficient?) "It's not enough, it's very insufficient, there needs to be aerial intervention too." VARIOUS OF HELICOPTER DROPPING WATER ON BURNING TREES BURNING TREES VARIOUS OF HEAVY MACHINERY ARRIVING TO THROW EARTH ON FLAMES VARIOUS OF WOMAN FIREFIGHTER AT SCENE WATER BEING SPRAYED ON FLAMES BURNING TREES VARIOUS OF BURNING HOMES MAN WALKING ON ROAD / SMOKE BILLOWING OUT VIEW OF BURNING VILLAGE
  • Embargoed: 16th August 2021 13:03
  • Keywords: Turkey efforts to put out flames wildfires
  • Location: MARMARIS, TURKEY
  • City: MARMARIS, TURKEY
  • Country: Turkey
  • Topics: Disaster/Accidents,Europe,Fires,Middle East,Editors' Choice
  • Reuters ID: LVA001EOL9GEF
  • Aspect Ratio: 16:9
  • Story Text: Using buckets and water bottles, desperate villagers in Turkey's Marmaris have stepped in to help contain the fires raging around them on Monday (August 2).
    Walking up and down the hills ferrying water to douse embers, the locals are angry that there has not been enough helicopters and planes used to contain the fires that have been burning since Wednesday (July 28).
    "My friend, whoever is coming must come, for God's sake. For God's sake, it cannot work without a helicopter. What are we supposed to do, fly in the air," said Gulhan (no last name) point up to the sky.
    "You see this, we are here as the entire village, from the locals to others. We didn't run or anything, so the government must see this and also not run away. It must send some of its planes here," she said as neighbours filled up buckets and water bottles from a single hose.
    Planes, helicopters and locals with buckets of water have been fighting wildfires raging for a sixth day near southern coastal resorts in drought-hit Turkey on Monday, while the government faced fresh criticism of its handling of the disaster.
    Firefighters have taken control of 125 of 132 fires, with 16 planes and 51 helicopters tackling blazes from the air in an operation also involving some 850 firefighting vehicles and more than 5,000 personnel, Forestry Minister Bekir Pakdemirli said.
    Their work was being hindered by temperatures above 40 degrees Celsius, strong winds and very low humidity of around 8%, he told reporters. Meteorology authority maps showed areas affected by fires as hit by severe drought in recent months.
    The EU said it had helped mobilise three fire-fighting planes on Sunday, one from Croatia and two from Spain, after Turkey activated a disaster response scheme to request help from other European countries. Turkey is not a member of the EU.
    President Tayyip Erdogan's communications director Fahrettin Altun rejected criticism of the government's handling of the situation and slammed a social media campaigning calling for foreign help for Turkey.
    "Our Turkey is strong. Our state is standing tall," Altun said on Twitter, describing most information about the fires on social media as "fake news". "All our losses will be compensated for. We will extinguish this fire burning us inside."
    (Production: Mehmet Emin Caliskan, Bulent Usta, Yesim Dikmen)
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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