The restoration to green has been completed in the area where the largest fire in the history of the Republic occurred

On the third anniversary of the largest forest fire in the history of the Republic, Antalya Governor Hulusi Şahin, who examined the regional and greening efforts in Manavgat, stated, “We planted 5 million 100 thousand saplings in approximately half of the 60 thousand hectares. Nature may have added maybe twice that to this 5.1 million. Antalya’s magnificent climate has quickly recovered, and the entire 60 thousand hectares has turned green. Very little memory of those bad days remains in nature.”

A briefing and field inspection program regarding the activities conducted after the fire was organized today in Manavgat to mark the third anniversary of the Manavgat forest fire, which broke out on July 28, 2021, and lasted for 10 days, resulting in the burning of 60 thousand hectares. Within the scope of the program, Antalya Governor Hulusi Şahin and Forest Regional Director Zafer İnce carried out inspections at the points where forest fires occurred in the Manavgat region. Governor Şahin checked the afforestation efforts and naturally regenerating areas in the region.

“We experienced a storm of consecutive fires”

In statements to journalists about the current situation in the area, Hulusi Şahin addressed how significant the Manavgat forest fire was three years ago. Şahin said, “Three years ago, on July 28, 2021, a fire broke out in the Yeniköy neighborhood of Manavgat, which you see right behind me. The weather conditions that day were as follows: the temperature was above 41 degrees, the humidity was around 10%, which is unusual for this region, and a strong north wind exceeding 55 kilometers per hour blew. With the fire, a storm of fires occurred one after another. In the following ten days, there were over 40 fires in this very small geographical area, from Akseki to Gazipaşa. We experienced the largest fires in the history of the Republic of Turkey in Antalya within ten days, and as a result, over 60 thousand hectares unfortunately burned. When you say this number, it is not fully understood what it means. If you look back, you can see that all the areas visible to our eyes have completely burned, and it continued into areas that are not visible to us. In these fires, seven of our citizens lost their lives, including two of our personnel. Many of our neighborhoods were evacuated. Our homes burned, our barns burned, and this was a great disaster, but it was extinguished with great sacrifices after 10 days.”

“Very little memory of those bad days remains”

Noting that in the three years that have passed, the greening efforts and Antalya’s magnificent climate have quickly recovered, Şahin stated, “We planted 5 million 100 thousand saplings in approximately half of the 60 thousand hectares. Some of these are fire-resistant, and the rest are Black Pine. Nature may have added maybe twice that to this 5.1 million. Thus, the entire 60 thousand hectares has turned green, and very little memory of those bad days remains in nature. Unfortunately, we cannot bring back the losses, but we are quickly completing the damages of our other teams. Our teams are working in all points of Antalya. This year, we are also experiencing some of the hottest days in recent times. We have encountered a number of fires. So far, our interventions have been very quick. But we must be very careful. The coming days are very important for us. We ask our citizens to use their forests responsibly and not to turn back from the awareness of responsibility for even a moment,” he said.

Reminding that the necessary units have carried out work regarding the losses of citizens as well as the forested area, Şahin stated, “We completed the losses of our citizens a long time ago. Over 900 houses were built, along with village lodges, mosques, and hundreds of barns. Only about 100 constructions are still ongoing. There have been delays in these due to some local issues. May such a disaster never happen again.”

Meanwhile, the region was also filmed by drone.