Ukraine, Turkey, Azerbaijan, Iran help Georgia fight Abastumani forest fire
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UPDATED: 14:54
A forest fire near Abastumani in southern Georgia is still burning and more foreign countries are offering their assistance to Georgia.
This afternoon, a special headquarters set up to handle the fire issued a statement saying that apart from Ukraine and Turkey, Azerbaijan and Iran are also sending aircraft to help Georgia fight.
Iran have sent two helicopters, Turkey have sent a firefighting aircraft and two helicopters, Azerbaijan have sent a helicopter and Ukraine have sent a firefighting aircraft.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili thanked all four countries on Twitter.
#Ukraine#Azerbaijan#Turkey#Iran will send aircraft 2 help #Georgia w forest fire in Abastumani. We are grateful 4 your continued support.
— Giorgi Kvirikashvili (@KvirikashviliGi) August 30, 2017
EARLIER: 11:34
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.
Last night, Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and Ukrainian President Petro Poroshenko held a phone conversation regarding the situation in Abastumani.
Later on, a statement was published by Poroshenko’s press office, saying that on Wednesday morning, the Ukrainian plane ÐÐ-32Ð, belonging to the Ukrainian State Emergency Service, will fly from the Ukrainian city of Odessa to the Georgian city of Batumi.
The aircraft is expected to arrive Georgia in a couple of hours.
The Turkish Ambassador to Georgia said this afternoon that Turkey will also send a firefighting aircraft and two helicopters to Georgia. He said that the aircraft and helicopters will be in Georgia by this evening. Turkey sent an aircraft and two helicopters during Borjomi Gorge fire too.
Meanwhile, a Georgian Interior Ministry helicopter has been working to extinguish the fire since early morning.
Police is mobilised at the scene in Abastumani. Photo: MIA's press office.
Manpower has also been mobilised to the scene. Interior Minister Giorgi Mgebrishvili said that about 1,000 firefighters, rescuers and rangers are currently battling the blaze and more are getting ready to join them if needed.
Mgebrishvili said that last night a 4-km road was paved through the forest so that firefighting engines can approach the fire pockets. He added Georgia has enough manpower but it needs help with aerial resources and a request of assistance has already been sent to partner countries.
Interior Minister Giorgi Mgebrishvili observes the fire in Abastumani forest. Photo: MIA's press office.
Last night another forest fire was reported in Likani forest near the town of Borjomi too. The scale of that fire was relatively small so Emergency Service workers managed to extinguish it in several hours.
A number of wildfires occurred in Georgian forests this month. The largest fire was in Borjomi Gorge that burnt for seven days before being put out two days ago.
An investigation is underway to find out the causes of frequent forest fires in Georgia this August.
A fire erupted today at the forest near Abastumani, a small town and climatic spa in Georgia’s Samtskhe-Javakheti region. Georgia’s Emergency Situations Agency reported, manpower and all necessary technique are already mobilised at the scene.
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.
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 new section of the forest near Tsagveri resort in south-central Georgia is still burning and more foreign countries are offering their assistance to Georgia.
A wildfire in in the Tsagveri forest in south-central Georgia has been localised; however, he helicopters will monitor the site and the fire extinguishing works will continue tomorrow morning wherever necessary.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili and Iranian Minister of Labour Ali Rabiei have met in Georgian capital of Tbilisi today. Rabiei is paying a visit to Georgia to attend an inter-governmental economic commission session between Georgia and Iran tomorrow.
Georgian President Giorgi Margvelashvili and Prime Minister Mamuka Bakhtadze have sent wishes of peace and success to Ukraine on its Independence Day. Both statements stressed that the country is still fighting for its territorial integrity and sovereignty.
Georgia will host a European Union-funded, multinational, large-scale exercise for developing both prevention and response efforts to forest fires, with the country’s Emergency Management Service joined by counterparts from countries of the bloc’s Eastern Partnership in the initiative.