Minister Yumaklı: There was a 35 percent decrease in the number of forest fires

Minister of Agriculture and Forestry İbrahim Yumaklı met with journalists to evaluate the efforts to fight forest fires and fire data in 2026.

Pointing out that climate change is increasingly increasing the pressure on forests, Yumaklı stated that the approach they developed to combat forest fires is not just about extinguishing the fire.

Minister Yumaklı underlined that reducing and managing risks before a fire breaks out, preventing fires, detecting them early, intervening as soon as possible and reforesting fire-damaged areas are the basic complementary stages of this fight and gave the following information:

"The first phase of our work consists of education, awareness-raising and preventive measures. We make all segments of the society a part of this struggle within the understanding of Green Homeland Mobilization. One of our greatest sources of power in this struggle is our forest fire volunteers. We increased the number of our volunteers, which was 13 thousand in 2021, to 142 thousand in 2026. With our Forest is My Campaign, before the summer starts, we will eliminate glass, plastic and similar waste that will cause fires together with our youth and children." By opening new fire safety roads and lanes, we both reduce the risk of fire spread and make it easier for teams to reach fire zones. This year, we increased this number to 4 thousand 852 in total. These pools play a critical role in our aircraft's access to water in difficult geographies. Today, 194 of them serve as smart observation towers.

Stating that they improve manpower, land-air fleet, technological infrastructure and intervention plans every year, Yumaklı said, "We increased the number of personnel fighting forest fires, which was 25 thousand in 2025, to 28 thousand 65 in 2026. We increased the number of water sprinklers to 1953, the number of first response vehicles to 2 thousand 766, and the number of work machines to 878. These teams were deployed at 1600 different points." spoke.

Minister Yumaklı emphasized that they have facilitated access to fires in remote areas with the regional response centers they established for the first time, and said, "We increased the number of our aircraft to 28 and the number of helicopters to 119 in 2026. We increased our instantaneous water throwing capacity, which was 73 tons in 2002, to 462 tons in 2026. We monitor our forests with our 14 Bayraktar TB2 unmanned aerial vehicles and detect fires early. The aircraft determines our location, "With the addition of 11 new points, we increased the number to 69 in 2026." he said.

Stating that 64 percent of the forests in the country are located in first and second degree fire sensitive areas, Yumaklı pointed out that they planned the intervention organization by analyzing meteorological data, the structure of the forests and regional risks.

"We implemented our Enhanced Fire Risk Map for the first time this year and it gave us a great advantage. With these maps, where more than 40 parameters were evaluated, we sent special warnings to our forest management chiefs 7 days in advance on high-risk days. We also directed our air vehicles and land teams to the areas where the risk was concentrated. We enabled the sprinklers to reach the fire areas faster with the newly developed forest roads navigation system. We instantly monitored the temperature, humidity and wind data with the sensors we integrated into our sprinklers and water supply vehicles. "We have installed safe driver recognition systems in our vehicles, we have distributed location tracking devices for security purposes to our personnel in fire-sensitive areas. We have gathered all these different software and tracking systems I mentioned under the umbrella of the Forest Fire Management System. This year has been a year in which we implemented many innovations in artificial intelligence-supported systems, software and technological infrastructure and benefited from them in the fight against fire."

Source: TRT Haber Açık RSS (Gündem) (Open Press / Translated Full Text)