Fire blazes on Abastumani forest, Georgia

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.