Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı participated in the 2024 Forest Fires Exercise held in Antalya.
According to the scenario, the first response to the fire that broke out in the forest area was carried out with 2 helicopters and 4 aircraft, which were dispatched upon notice. Then, 13 personnel reached the area and extinguished the flames with 2 sprinklers, 2 first response vehicles, bulldozers, 2 fire management vehicles, graders, trailers, and 82 water supply vehicles.
In the region, which was also inspected with a reconnaissance plane, Minister Yumaklı thanked the team for the successful exercise, toured the vehicle fleets and met with the team. sohbet He.
In his speech here, Minister İbrahim Yumaklı reminded that Turkey is among the countries most affected by global climate change due to its location in the Mediterranean Basin, and said that floods, drought and forest fires will be fought more.
Pointing out that approximately 30 percent of the country's surface area consists of forests, Yumaklı emphasized that the forest organization has brought more than 22 billion saplings and seeds to the soil in 7 years.
Response Time to Forest Fires Reduced to 11 Minutes
Stating that 90 percent of fires are human-caused, Minister of Agriculture and Forestry Yumaklı said:
“We reduced the first response time, which used to take 40 minutes in the past, to 11 minutes. Last year we struggled to get it down to 10 minutes, but we stayed at 11 minutes. This year we will have reduced it to 10 minutes. With 776 fire watchtowers across our country, we carry out an effective, pin-point fight, so to speak, with unmanned aerial vehicles in the surveillance, monitoring and management of fires used by only two countries in the world. At the point of fire response, we follow a strategy focused on capacity increase and technology development in line with our needs. In this direction, we are developing both our land power, our air power and the technology we use. I would like to proudly state that we have established the largest air fleet in our history to fight fires. Our 105 helicopters, 26 planes and 14 UAVs have literally covered our forests with their steel wings. I would also like to emphasize that our Bayraktar TB2 and Aksungur UAVs and T-70 NEFES helicopters produced by our Turkish defense industry give our fleet a distinct power.”
Minister Yumaklı reminded that while there were no fire pools in 2002, helicopters were supported in this fight with 4 thousand 727 fire pools today, and pointed out that the indispensable part of the fight is land intervention.
Pointing out that the heroes of the forest, who defend the green homeland at the expense of their lives, are stronger and more equipped than ever, Yumaklı said, “I hope 1649 sprinklers, 2 thousand 453 first response vehicles and 821 work machines will be our greatest forces against the flames. "Today, our forest organization has reached an important stage in the technology-oriented struggle." he said.