A year has passed since the entire Turkish mountainside was in flames. Norwegian Jorunn Karagöz had to flee her home, she saw the forest around the seaside resort of Marmaris disappear as she boarded an evacuation boat on the Aegean coast. 140,000 hectares burned, making it the worst forest fire in Turkey’s history. Today, on the first anniversary of the fatal fire, it happened again. “Not now again,” she thought. Jorunn Karagöz lives in the Marmaris area and witnessed today’s fire, on the one-year anniversary of a major fire last year. – I sat on the balcony and saw again that there was a lot of smoke. There is little forest left that can burn. It took three minutes and then there were seven helicopters and five planes in the air, says Karagöz. 600 meters away, a hotel was on fire. – The fire started in a transformer and spread to the little green that is left before it caught fire in the hotel. Panic broke out at the hotel, she says. – Escaped this time The Norwegian lives in İçmeler, a town seven kilometers outside the seaside resort of Marmaris. No one was injured in today’s fire, and the fire service is still working to extinguish it throughout the evening. It has been over 40 degrees during the day and it is very dry in the area. It is reported to be 51 degrees on Monday, she says. – Last year the fire was really bad. We had to flee and stay in a hotel for a week, says Karagoz. About a month ago, a severe forest fire broke out nearby. 150 people were evacuated as a result of the fire. Yesterday there was a fire at a bus station, she says. The fire service worked to extinguish another forest fire near Marmaris on 22 June. The area has been affected by a number of forest fires. Photo: KENAN GURBUZ / Reuters – With almost 50 degrees and small pieces of glass on the ground, fires break out all the time, she says. More Norwegian tourists The Norwegian tourist Krister Rognaldsen Pederson is also in the area. He was on the beach when he suddenly saw helicopters in the air before they flew to the sea to load water. – We saw smoke from the city and realized that there was a fire up by the forest, says Pederson, who arrived by charter plane through the travel company TUI to Turkey. – I was a little surprised, but not terribly shocked, it is an area that is prone to forest fires, he says further. Before the holiday trip, he had been informed by local acquaintances about evacuation options in the event of a forest fire. There are two ways out of town through the mountains. If there is a fire around both, the only option for evacuation is by sea, he says. – They are good at handling crisis situations like this down here. The municipality collaborates with private actors to evacuate people and tourists by boat. This is what the forest looked like after powerful forest fires ravaged the area outside the city of Marmaris in Turkey last summer. Eight people died. Photo: Ismail Coskun / AP – It is exactly one year since the forest fire that burned down most of the forest here, it is very special, he adds. 210 holidaying Norwegians The travel company TUI has 210 holidaying Norwegian guests in Marmaris now. The company transports Norwegians to and from the Turkish seaside resort from April to October. – None of our guests are affected by the fire. Not many people have contacted us today, says press officer Nicolai Findsen at TUI. – We have our office in Turkey which monitors the situation and is in contact with local authorities. This is not something that affects our tourists at the present time, says Findsen further. The travel company Ving only offers scheduled flight solutions to Turkey, and not hotel packages. They have no Norwegians on holiday in the Marmaris area. – We only have Norwegians in Alanya and Side, it’s a long way from Marmaris, says communications manager Claes Pellvik in Ving.
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