As the ground and air firefighting operations continued on August 2, 2021, firefighters were fighting a forest fire that broke out in the Manavga District of Antalya, Turkey. (Photo courtesy of Suleyman Elcin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
- A Turkish farmer described how a fire burned his cattle alive after saving some of his animals.
- He said he was lucky to survive.
- Other farmers shared similar stories of how their farm animals died in the fire.
Farmer Mevlut Tarim said that the violent fire burned his cattle alive, killed 8 people, and burned large areas of Turkey like an explosion.
“The fire happened in an instant,” the 67-year-old told AFP after trying to pull and push some of his screaming animals through the dark smoke and patches of burning turf surrounding his farm.
He said he was also lucky to be alive.
“One of my cows died. It was on fire,” he recalled. “I have never seen anything like this. You can’t even call it a fire. It really is like a bomb.”
The story of Tarim is similar to that of other farmers. The deadliest and most destructive fire in several generations raged on the southern coast of Turkey for the seventh day.
Thousands of farm animals died, and the dense forest covering the rolling hills turned into bones and ashes.
People helped fight the forest fire that broke out in Antalya, Turkey.
Painful farmers have been trying to steer their cattle to the relatively safe Aegean and Mediterranean coasts.
But it’s difficult to guide panicked animals, and the wind that creates a storm around them is unpredictable.
Exhausted firefighters dumped seawater into the flames from helicopters and hosed the wreckage, but they did not always arrive in time to help Tarim and other farmers.
Lemis Sapir is a local insurance agent who believes he has a responsibility to stay where he is and do what he can to help.
“I don’t want to run away,” the 44-year-old said. “We will do our best to help.”
Turkish social media is full of images of brave locals trying to put out a fire with everything from garden watering cans to tree branches.
As the ground and air firefighting operations continued on August 2, 2021, firefighters were fighting a forest fire that broke out in the Manavga District of Antalya, Turkey. (Photo courtesy of Suleyman Elcin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Sapir said the town of Hisaronu, which was on fire in the Aegean, had received reinforcements from other areas.
“But because the mountains are steep and the forest is very dense, firefighters cannot intervene,” he said.
“The aerial reinforcements are not strong enough. There are currently too many fires in Turkey, and we cannot respond to them all.”
Turkey’s response to the disaster turned into a huge political scandal, putting pressure on President Recep Tayyip Erdogan.
The opposition accused the powerful Turkish leader of accepting foreign aid proposals too slowly — including aid from regional rival Greece — and failing to properly maintain firefighting aircraft.
As the ground and air firefighting operations continued on August 2, 2021, firefighters were fighting a forest fire that broke out in the Manavga District of Antalya, Turkey. (Photo courtesy of Suleyman Elcin/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)
Erdogan’s office countered that the entire emergency rescue force had been fully mobilized for a few days, and called the mismanagement claims “fake news” and aimed to make Turkey appear weak.
Local store manager Yasemin Akkaya said that now is not the time to play politics or argue about Turkey’s geostrategic power.
“This is not the time to be proud,” Akaya said.
“We are a strong country. Our people are strong. But there is no water in my house,” he said. “Do we need water? Yes, because the area of the fire is very large.”
The Tarim farmer shook his head while investigating the loss.
“Look around. This is a disaster,” he said. “We are lucky to be alive.”
