A volunteer firefighter has died in Turkey while assisting emergency services in the effort to extinguish a significant wildfire in the Mediterranean coastal province of Antalya. The blaze, which began on Monday in the Aksu district, expanded rapidly into the neighboring Kepez district, driven by intense winds that forced hundreds of residents to evacuate their homes. The cause of the wildfire remains unknown.
Hasan Kahya, a resident of Aksu who had joined the firefighting efforts, suffered a heart attack after being exposed to heavy smoke. He was transported to a hospital but later died, according to the district’s mayor, Isa Yildirim. In addition to this fatality, two individuals required hospitalization on Tuesday due to burns on their legs, while six others received treatment for smoke inhalation. The emergency also impacted local wildlife, with more than 100 dogs evacuated from an animal shelter in the Aksu district.
Turkey’s forestry directorate reported on Wednesday that while operations to bring the fire under control were ongoing, the intensity of the blaze had been successfully reduced. The state-run Anadolu Agency noted that the response involved a massive deployment of resources, including more than 1,000 firefighters, 169 fire extinguishing trucks, nine helicopters, and at least three firefighting planes.
Separately, the forestry directorate confirmed that emergency crews are also working to contain a wildfire in the district of Kozan, in the southern Adana province, where hundreds of residents have been evacuated from their homes.
