Wildfires Ravage 80,000 Hectares in Türkiye This Year

So far in 2025, Türkiye has recorded a total of 6,800 forest and rural fires, which have devastated around 80,000 hectares of land, making it one of the most destructive years for wildfires in the past decade.

“In 2025 alone, 80,000 hectares have been lost to fires. Although the year is not yet over, this is already the second-highest figure after 2021, when 139,503 hectares were burned,” said Associate Professor Serhun Sağlam from Istanbul University’s Faculty of Forestry, The Caspian Post reports citing Turkish media.

Over the past 10 years, 28,000 forest fires and 29,500 rural fires have burned a total of 255,000 hectares.

In 2024, 2,798 forest and 4,339 rural fires destroyed around 28,000 hectares, highlighting a sharp increase in burned area this year.

Sağlam warned that fire risk remains elevated in Türkiye’s Mediterranean and Aegean regions until mid-October.

“While cooler weather in Istanbul and surrounding areas has reduced the danger, high temperatures continue in the south, keeping the risk alive,” he said.

He added that since the fire season has not yet ended, 2025 could become the year with the highest number of fires on record.