Nobody is going to evacuate vacationers
Forest fires in Turkey have engulfed three provinces at once. The flames are especially strong in Antalya, in the popular tourist region of Kemer. Despite the best efforts of the fire brigade, the fire continues to spread, it is even visible from the windows of some hotels. But the evacuation of tourists is not planned yet.
In a sense, Russian tourists who went to rest in a Turkish resort were on fire — in Kemer it is already on fire in the immediate vicinity of hotels where Russians traditionally settle. However, people are in no hurry to leave the places of rest.
According to Elena, who is vacationing in the village of Goynuk, the hotel staff behave calmly, no one offers tourists to evacuate. And she is very happy about it.
— I saved up money for a whole year to go on vacation. Well, they are evacuating — and where should I go? The plane will go home only in a week, the money for the ticket will not be returned if I rent it. And I would not say that it is so bad here. The smell of smoke at night is only strong, but I close the window and turn on the air conditioner — then it's fine.
But not everyone can turn on the air conditioner. Polina, a tourist from St. Petersburg, says that her and neighboring hotels constantly have problems with electricity. Everything is covered with smoke, because of the burning it is difficult to breathe, ashes and burnt leaves reach the hotel. And again, no offers to leave the dangerous area with the opportunity to rest elsewhere or get money back.
The usual story: pre-purchased tours or booked rooms, tickets for charter flights, no information about fires (and in some areas they already existed) at the time of departure … No one will return the money — some tourists contacted the travel company with the question of resettlement or transferring the flight to earlier, and received a response: “Please, but at your own expense.”
Fires are force majeure for which no one is responsible. Therefore, tourists rest as best they can: they continue to go to the sea, go on excursions — however, their number has significantly decreased due to fires. But you can take spectacular photos and videos and watch with interest fire helicopters collecting water from the sea.
Things are a little better in the provinces of Manisa and Kahramanmarash. There, the fires are not so strong, but because of the wind, the flames spread and gradually approach the resort areas. Haven't been able to deal with it yet. Aleksey, who was vacationing in Demirdzhi (Manisa), had to give up the hike in the mountains for which he came here:
— We are resting, yes … Of course, they expected something else. You don't walk in the mountains. Yes, and they wanted to go to Manisa itself, to see the mosques. It won't work either. So we relax by the pool, normally, in general, only the towels quickly turn black, soot settles on them.
According to the General Department of Forestry, Turkey is not in danger for tourists. Everything possible is being done: not only ground equipment is involved in the fight against fires, but also aviation, including Russian. Thanks to the actions of local firefighters and volunteers, as well as help from other countries, more than 100 fires have already been brought under control — on the scale of a disaster, this is not much, but encouraging. There is hope that in the near future the fires will be localized, and the remaining days of rest will be more or less calm for tourists. Although a new nuisance is approaching that can spoil the rest — abnormal heat (up to + 52 ° C in some areas).
Meanwhile, fires continue to rage in Greece. Rhodes has been burning for several days, now the flames have engulfed two more islands — Corfu and Evia. There is a smell of burning in the air, not only forests are burning — several houses of local residents and a number of hotels have already been damaged. Interruptions with water, electricity and communications begin. Tourists are being evacuated from some areas of the islands.