Turkey: thermal power plant threatened by violent forest fires
The Milas thermal power station is threatened by the violent fires which ravage western Turkey.
AFP - YASIN AKGUL
Text by: RFI Follow
2 min
In Turkey, where forest fires have been ravaging the south of the country for more than a week, the flames reached a thermal power plant located in Milas, in the province of Mugla this Wednesday evening.
While the opposition, which heads the town halls of the most affected cities, denounces the government's management of fires, residents now fear that an ecological disaster will be added to the one already underway.
Publicity
Read more
With our correspondent in Istanbul,
Anne Andlauer
A blaze in the area of a thermal power plant: this is exactly the image against which the mayor of Milas, Muhammet Tokat, had been warning for three days.
It was he who finally announced that the flames had reached the facility around 9 p.m., driven by strong and changing winds, despite the intervention of two water bombers and several helicopters.
The Mugla prefecture, on which Milas and its power plant depend, ordered the evacuation of ten neighborhoods.
A Turkish navy ship was mobilized to evacuate the residents.
According to the mayor of Mugla, Osman Gürün, the power station was emptied of its explosive substances.
But the fire threatens the coal stocks located near the plant, posing the risk of serious air pollution.
The town halls concerned, held by the opposition, have been calling the authorities for help for several days and denouncing the lack of means to fight the flames.
President Recep Tayyip Erdogan responded to them in a television interview, arguing that these town halls were responsible for managing fires in inhabited areas.
► To read also: Turkey: rumors and "fake news" are multiplying on the deadly forest fires
Newsletter
Receive all international news directly in your mailbox
I subscribe
Follow all the international news by downloading the RFI application
google-play-badge_FR
Turkey
Environment
Natural disasters