Fire blazes on Abastumani forest, Georgia
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A fire erupted today at the forest near Abastumani, a small town and climatic spa in Georgia’s Samtskhe-Javakheti region.
It is located 28 km west of Akhaltsikhe, where today another fire was localised. A helicopter which localized the fire in Akhaltsikhe is now on its way to engage in the firefighting process in Abastumani.
Georgia’s Emergency Situations Agency reported, manpower and all necessary technique are already mobilised at the scene.
The area of the fire is unknown yet.
Georgia’s Minister of Internal Affairs Giorgi Mghebrishvili is in Abastumani to follow the firefighting process.
There is a high concentration of smoke in the air. About 100 people are working to extinguish the fire on place. The inaccessibility of the fire pocket makes the work more difficult. There is a virgin forest. As locals have said for the past 10-15 years, the trees have not been cut down in the forest,” Mghebrishvili said.
Abastumani is a hidden small town in the wild Georgian mountains. The area was at the forefront of astronomical development.
The town – famous in the 19th Century for the quality of its air and thermal waters – was a popular summer resort for the Romanov royal family who then controlled Georgia as part of the Russian Empire.
Because of its superior astronomical observing conditions and calm weather Abastumani was chosen for building the Astrophysical Observatory, which was the first alpine astrophysical observatory in the former Soviet Union.
A fire erupted over about 0.5 hectares of forest lands on a mountain near the village of Sviri in the Akhaltsikhe municipality in southern Georgia yesterday evening. An Interior Ministry helicopter has been working to localise the fire since this morning.
The forest fire in Georgia’s Borjomi Gorge has been extinguished and firefighting crews from neighbouring countries are leaving the gorge.
A Georgian border police helicopter made an emergency landing while filling the reservoir in Borjomi Gorge this morning.
Interior Ministry said the pilot did his best to land on the water in such a way as to avoid casualties.
A massive forest fire that broke out a week ago in Georgia’s Borjomi Gorge has been extinguished, but the special headquarters that was set up upon the Prime Minister’s order to handle the disaster remains in the gorge to follow the developments.
UPDATED: Ukraine will send a firefighting aircraft to help Georgia fight a forest fire that broke out yesterday near Abastumani, a small town and climatic spa in Georgia’s Samtskhe-Javakheti region.
UPDATED: The forest fire near the town of Abastumani in southern Georgia have been localised, says Interior Minister Giorgi Mgebrishvili. Works are underway to liquidate it, he adds. Helicopters and aircraft no longer needed at the scene.
About 200 hectares of forests have been burnt during the Borjomi Gorge fire that lasted seven days, the Prime Minister says.
UPDATED: The fire that broke out on the Mount Mtatsmnida in Georgia's capital Tbilisi this afternoon has been localised, the Emergency Management Agency announced. It added that now works are underway to fully extinguish it.
A fire that broke out last week has been fully extinguished along the mountains of the village of Khakhabo in Tusheti in northeastern Georgia, Georgia’s Interior Ministry said.
A fire has broken out in the forest of Chailuri in Kakheti region in eastern Georgia earlier today, which according to the Georgia’s Interior Ministry’s Emergency Service has been localised. Fire-fighters who immediately went to deal with the fire have taken care to prevent the further escalation.
The government of Georgia has allocated 10 million GEL [$4,8] to purchase special fire engines to more effectively combat fires, Deputy Head of the Emergency Service Shalva Khutsishvili has announced.
Abastumani observatory, located in the Samtskhe Javakheti region of Georgia with an 87-year history, will be officially separated from Ilia State University next month and become an independent legal entity, a Government of Georgia decree reads.
A recent fire in Abastumani, a small town and climatic spa in Georgia’s Samtskhe-Javakheti region, may have been a case of arson, announces the Emergency Management Service of Georgia. The agency says that the fire has already been extinguished and the lower cover of the coniferous forest has burnt.
Seven families have been left homeless by a fire which destroyed a two-storey historic house on Asatiani Street in Georgia’s resort town of Abastumani on June 20.