On Air Now

John Clayton

3:00pm - 6:00pm

  • 01723 336444

Now Playing

Harry Styles

Music For A Sushi Restaurant

Download

Turkey faces 'truly great disaster', warns Erdogan amid raging wildfires and sweltering temperatures across Europe

Disaster zones have been declared in two provinces of Turkey as new wildfires broke out on the Mediterranean coast.

Smoke billowed across the sky in the popular resort of Antalya, with homes evacuated in the city centre and elsewhere.

In the nearby city of Manavgat locals grabbed hoses and buckets to help firefighters, with aircraft dumping water from above.

Other wildfires started on Friday in Adana and Mersin, further east along the coast.

Turkey's interior minister declared the western provinces of Izmir and Bilecik "disaster areas" after a month of fires in the country.

President Recep Tayyip Erdogan also said on Friday that the country faced "a truly great disaster" and that 25,000 people were involved in the emergency effort.

Thirteen people have been killed so far, including 10 volunteers and forestry workers in the central Eskisehir province on Wednesday.

Cyprus has also been enduring one of its worst wildfires in living memory. Temperatures have reached 43C (109F) on the island this week.

Two people were found dead in their car on Wednesday and scores of homes have been destroyed.

Spain, Egypt, Jordan and Israel were providing assistance, and planes from the RAF base on the island were also helping.

Elsewhere in southern Europe, firefighters in Albania have been dealing with a blaze in the mountainous forests near Elbasan.

The devastating fires come amid dry, sweltering temperatures in southern parts of the continent.

Greece's iconic Acropolis was forced to limit its hours this week as it approached the mid-40s, while there's also been intense heat in the Balkans.

And it's not only southern Europe that's been getting abnormal heat: Finland broke a record this week after experiencing 14 straight days above 30C.

The previous record of 13 days was set in 1972.

Read more from Sky News:
East and West Midlands officially in drought - which areas could be next?
Top Boy actor charged with two counts of rape
Where are hosepipe bans in place and what does it mean?

Respite looks to be ahead, however, with many areas expected to cool to more usual levels next week.

Most experts attribute the above-average temperatures for this time of year to human-caused climate change and say wildfires are likely to become more frequent.

2024 was the warmest year on record, with temperatures exceeding 1.5C above the pre-industrial era for the first time.

Sky News

(c) Sky News 2025: Turkey faces 'truly great disaster', warns Erdogan amid raging wildfires and s

Did you find this article useful?

This is the Coast is committed to providing a daily local news service for the Yorkshire Coast. We are a small locally owned and operated business which employs professional journalists and reporters. We do not receive any public funding or grants and we are entirely funded by our local commercial operations. We enjoy fabulous support from local businesses who work with us on their advertising and marketing campaigns, but the cost of providing high quality, well researched, fact checked local news coverage is significant.

If you appreciate what This is the Coast does, and would like to help support our journalism, please consider supporting us on a monthly basis today.

A small contribution from all our readers would really help support independent journalism for the Yorkshire Coast.

More from World News

Follow Us

Get Our Apps

Our Apps are now available for iOS, Android and Smart Speakers.

  • Available on the App Store
  • Available on Google Play
  • Just ask Amazon Alexa
  • Available on Roku

Today's Weather

  • Scarborough

    Medium-level cloud

    High: 20°C | Low: 14°C

  • Filey

    Medium-level cloud

    High: 20°C | Low: 14°C

  • Whitby

    Medium-level cloud

    High: 20°C | Low: 14°C

  • Bridlington

    Medium-level cloud

    High: 20°C | Low: 14°C

  • Hornsea

    Medium-level cloud

    High: 21°C | Low: 13°C

  • Driffield

    Medium-level cloud

    High: 21°C | Low: 14°C

News