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Turkey Bolsters Forest Fire Defenses with Expanded Fleet and Governor Coordination
🇹🇷 Turkey /Elections & Politics

Turkey Bolsters Forest Fire Defenses with Expanded Fleet and Governor Coordination

From Cumhuriyet · (5m ago) Turkish

Translated from Turkish, summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

TLDR

  • Turkish ministers held a coordination meeting with governors of high-risk provinces regarding forest fire preparedness.
  • The country is deploying 28 aircraft, 119 helicopters, and 14 drones, increasing aerial intervention capacity to 462 tons of water.
  • Approximately 15 million hectares of forest land, about 65% of the total, are considered highly susceptible to fires, necessitating strengthened response capabilities.

Turkey is intensifying its preparedness for the upcoming forest fire season, with key ministers convening a high-level coordination meeting with provincial governors from at-risk areas. Agriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı and Interior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi emphasized the nation's commitment to bolstering its firefighting capabilities, as reported by Cumhuriyet.

Bugün ülkemiz orman varlığının yaklaşık yüzde 65'ine tekabül eden 15 milyon hektarlık alan yangını hassas nitelikte. Bu tablo hazırlık kapasitemizi, saha disiplinimizi ve kurumlar arası koordinasyonumuzu daha da güçlendirmeyi zorunlu hale getirmektedir

— İçişleri Bakanı Mustafa ÇiftçiInterior Minister Mustafa Çiftçi underscores the significant portion of Turkey's forest area that is vulnerable to fires, stressing the need for enhanced preparedness and coordination.

Minister Yumaklı detailed the significant resources being mobilized, including 28 aircraft, 119 helicopters, and 14 unmanned aerial vehicles. This aerial fleet, expanded by 15 additional aircraft this year, increases the capacity to drop 462 tons of water, a substantial enhancement in aerial intervention. On the ground, nearly 2,000 fire engines, over 2,700 initial response vehicles, and hundreds of heavy machinery units will be deployed. The integration of technology, such as smart surveillance towers and decision support systems, with human expertise is central to their strategy.

Sayısı 15 adet artan hava araçlarımızla birlikte havadan müdahale kapasitemiz 462 ton su atmaya yükselmiş durumda.

— Tarım ve Orman Bakanı İbrahim YumaklıAgriculture and Forestry Minister İbrahim Yumaklı details the increased aerial firefighting capacity, highlighting the addition of new aircraft.

Interior Minister Çiftçi highlighted the critical vulnerability, noting that roughly 15 million hectares of Turkey's forest cover—approximately 65% of the total—are highly susceptible to fires. This underscores the urgency and scale of the challenge. The ministry is also focusing on public awareness, conducting outreach in villages and schools, and organizing the 'Orman Benim' (My Forest) campaign to foster a sense of ownership and responsibility among citizens, especially the youth. Reaffirming a strict policy, Yumaklı reiterated that no burned forest land will ever be opened for construction, emphasizing that reforestation remains the priority, countering any potential disinformation.

Tıpkı bundan önceki zamanlarda olduğu gibi bundan sonra da yanan alanların bir metre karesi bile imara açılmayacaktır, ağaçlandırılacaktır.

— Tarım ve Orman Bakanı İbrahim YumaklıMinister Yumaklı reaffirms the government's commitment to reforesting areas affected by fires, explicitly stating that no burned land will be rezoned for construction.
DistantNews Editorial

Originally published by Cumhuriyet in Turkish. Translated, summarized, and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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