STORY: Wildfires in W. Türkiye contained: minister
SHOOTING TIME: July 19, 2024
DATELINE: July 20, 2024
LENGTH: 00:01:35
LOCATION: Ankara
CATEGORY: ENVIRONMENT

SHOTLIST:
1. various of a forest fire in western Izmir province of Türkiye (courtesy of ihlas news agency)
2. SOUNDBITE (Turkish): IBRAHIM YUMAKLI, Türkiye's Agriculture and Forestry Minister
3. various of a forest fire in western Izmir province of Türkiye (courtesy of ihlas news agency)

STORYLINE:

The wildfires in Türkiye's several provinces have been contained, the country's Agriculture and Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said Friday.
   
SOUNDBITE (Turkish): IBRAHIM YUMAKLI, Türkiye's Agriculture and Forestry Minister
"There were nine fires yesterday, which we defined in the upper-risk group. I would like to announce that all of the fires are under control as of now."
   
The minister made the remarks when speaking to reporters in the western Izmir province of Türkiye. 

Yumakli added that his ministry did not receive any reports of casualties or damage to property in the affected region.
   
Noting the ongoing heatwaves in western and southern Türkiye, he cautioned that the high temperature and low humidity levels still pose a high risk for further fires.
   
A series of wildfires broke out across several provinces of Türkiye since Wednesday.
   
The firefighter teams responded to a total of 48 fires on Thursday, including 34 forest fires and 14 rural fires, the minister said in a separate statement on social media platform X.
   
Türkiye frequently experiences forest fires during the summer months, particularly in its western and southern regions, as a result of high temperatures and low humidity levels.

Xinhua News Agency correspondents reporting from Ankara.
(XHTV)