PodcastRoadside fire devours 50 vehicles near İzmir beach, stranding vacationers on site
A fire that erupted on the side of a road to the beach devoured some 50 vehicles, stranding vacationers who had driven to İzmir's Ekmeksiz Beach on Aug. 24. Although the source remains unknown, the flames reportedly devoured some 10 hectares of land. "I don't know how we're going to get back. Our bags, money, cards. They all burned. I don't even have home keys. Everything burned," a beach-goer said.
Duvar English
A fire that erupted among the bushes on the side of a beach road devoured 50 vehicles in the Seferihisar district of the Aegean province of İzmir late on Aug. 23.
İzmir'in Seferihisar ilçesinde, Ekmeksiz Plajı'ndaki makilik alanda yangın çıktı. Yangında, tatilcilerin arabaları da zarar gördü.https://t.co/XT9aCKUg89 pic.twitter.com/g8Io8vhsVN
— ANKA Haber Ajansı (@ankahabera) August 23, 2020
The source of the fire remains unknown, but the flames had already advanced all the way up to nearby houses when local authorities dispatched three helicopters and 12 trucks to the area.
The fire was put out in about one hour and burned through some 10 hectares, İzmir's Forestry Directorate said.
Some of the cars that the fire dismantled were property of beach-goers who had parked near Ekmeksiz Beach to enjoy a day by the water with their family like Nida Akçay.
"I don't know how we're going to get back. Our bags, money, cards. They all burned. I don't even have home keys. Everything burned," Akçay said.
Murat Coşkun said that it was too late to save his car when he got to the scene.
"The fire had already grown too much when the fire department got here. We're waiting to be reimbursed now," Coşkun said.
Although a few people saved their cars from the blaze, beach-goer Emre Keleş said that his car was charred to the point where he couldn't recognize the license plate.
More than 110 hectares of forest land burned down in Turkey in 2019