ANKARA - 500 hectares of forested area was destroyed in 90 forest fires that broke out in the past 3 days, it was reported on Monday.
Turkish Environment & Forestry Ministry Forest Directorate General said fire broke out in 34 regions on August 19th, 43 on August 20th and 13 on August 21st throughout Turkey in the past 3 days. ''Fire in 89 regions could be taken under control,'' the ministry executives said.
The executives indicated that the fire which broke out on August 19th in Kas town of southern city of Antalya could not be taken under control because of the steep area and strong wind. ''Efforts are underway to take the fire under control,'' they noted.
The executives added that the fire which broke out in Izmir-Selcuk-Meryemana region at 2.40 p.m. on Sunday could be taken under control at 05.00 a.m. this morning, yet stated that 300 hectares of forested area was destroyed.
The executives said 20,763,248 hectares of Turkey (26 percent) of Turkey was covered with forests, indicating that 12,000 hectares of forested area was burnt in the past 10 years because of forest fires.