Turkish FM extends help to Georgian counterpart over Borjomi forest fire
In a phone call with Darchiashvili, Çavuşoğlu expressed his concern over the fire that has been raging since Friday, and offered help in extinguishing the blaze, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. Photo: Anadolu
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Turkish Foreign Minister Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu on Wednesday lent support to his Georgian counterpart Ilia Darchiashvili in combating the forest fire in central-western Georgia’s Borjomi municipality.
In a phone call with Darchiashvili, Çavuşoğlu expressed his concern over the fire that has been raging since Friday, and offered help in extinguishing the blaze, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said.
Firefighters at the site were still trying to control the flames on Wednesday, as high temperatures and wind complicated their efforts.
Earlier today, in a move marking international assistance to Georgian state bodies, a specialised Turkish firefighting aircraft joined efforts to extinguish the blaze.
The Turkish aircraft, equipped with an eight-ton tank for fire extinguishing material, was being utilised by its crew on sectors of the fire in the municipality, with two more specialised aircraft expected to join the work on Wednesday.
In a move marking international assistance to Georgian state bodies, a specialised Turkish firefighting aircraft has joined efforts to extinguish the forest fire in central-western Georgia’s Borjomi municipality that has been raging since Friday, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs announced on Wednesday.
More than 1,200 professionals from different state bodies, around 120 units of equipment and four border police helicopters are providing “maximum efforts” to put out the forest fire in Georgia’s central-western Borjomi municipality, the Interior Ministry said on Tuesday.
Vakhtang Gomelauri, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, inspected the measures being taken against forest fire in central-western Georgia’s Borjomi municipality on Monday.
A forest fire in central-western Borjomi municipality of Georgia has been contained and nearby settlements are now safeguarded, the Emergency Management Service of Georgia said on Monday. The agency said 600 professionals, including 300 firefighters, of the Special Tasks Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs were trying to extinguish the blaze which erupted last Friday near the villages of Kvabiskhevi and Zoreti.
Georgian Foreign Minister Ilia Darchiashvili on Wednesday extended his gratitude to Türkiye for offering assistance in putting out the Borjomi forest fire in the country’s central-western part.
The Emergency Management Service of Georgia on Wednesday called on the public to “act cautiously” to prevent fires breaking out in the country, citing the National Environment Agency as saying hot and dry weather, as well as strong winds, were forecast across the country until next Monday.
Georgian Prime Minister Irakli Garibashvili on Monday extended his gratitude to “friendly” Türkiye and personally to President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan for offering assistance in putting out the Borjomi forest fire in the country’s central-western part.
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.