Specialist gendarmerie commandos and police units have begun patrolling forest areas that are at risk of fire across Aydin, including Dilek National Park.

The news come this week as firefighters were continuing to contain a wildfire that broke out in the popular tourist district of Marmaris.

The blaze broke out Tuesday evening in the Bordubet region, and flames spread rapidly due to strong winds and forced 30 homes near the forested region to be evacuated, according to Turkish media. The cause of the blaze is under investigation.

Around 1,600 personnel were involved in efforts to bring the fire under control, including teams brought in from neighbouring provinces.

Meanwhile, in Aydin, commando teams affiliated to the Provincial Gendarmerie Command and the police special operations teams of the Provincial Security Directorate have been deployed in the forest area, especially the Dilek Peninsula Büyük Menderes Delta National Park.

Aydin Governor Hüseyin Aksoy told reporters that they are working in cooperation with many institutions and organizations in order to prevent the forests from being affected by the fire in the prominent green areas of the city. 

Noting that they carry out activities to raise awareness of the public against forest fires and to take various measures against them if there are malicious people, Aksoy said, “Special operations police and gendarmerie commando teams wander through the forest, both researching suspicious people and trying to intervene when there is a negativity in the region.”

Expressing that they hope to survive the summer season in the lightest way in terms of fire, Aksoy added that the teams patrol the sensitive areas in 17 districts.

This has been backed by Interior Ministry instructions being issued to Governors to take a variety of measures to minimize the potential of forest fires.

These include prohibiting lighting fires around forest entrances and forests in areas at risk of forest fire. In areas where fire risk is considered to be high, patrol activities should be increased and aerial control should be provided with drones.

Citizens should be also warned to extinguish fires in the picnic areas, not to leave garbage, glass, plastic bottles that could cause a fire in the area, not to burn stubble or vegetation, and not to light a fire in the forest.

Dilek National Park, with an area of ​​27,598 hectares and located between Didim and Kusadasi, has drawn record-breaking numbers of tourists. Reports suggested that about 21,000 people entered the park last weekend.

To bolster security and safety, Gendarmerie non-commissioned officers have been carrying out patrols on horseback. The teams continue their duties in the national park until September.