ISTANBUL (Reuters) -A wildfire killed a bedridden man who was home alone in Turkey’s western Izmir province after it spread to a residential area, state-owned Anadolu news agency said on Thursday, the first casualty after nearly a week of scattered blazes.
The man, 81, was killed in the Odemis district where firefighters battled the blaze for a second day, with several helicopters and other aircraft dropping water on the mountainous terrain amid billowing smoke.
Authorities closed some roads to the Aegean resort town of Cesme due to fire, Anadolu said. Broadcasters showed footage of flames across parts of the main highway as water tankers arrived.
Wildfires across Turkey’s west have damaged some 200 homes, and victims were provided alternative accommodation, Interior Minister Ali Yerlikaya said.
Some 50,000 people were temporarily evacuated earlier in the week due to fires, which were stoked by high temperatures, low humidity and strong winds. Some have been contained.
Other blazes also broke out on Thursday in the southern resort province of Antalya and just outside Istanbul, Turkey’s largest city, according to Anadolu.
(Reporting by Ezgi Erkoyun; Editing by Jonathan Spicer and Bernadette Baum)
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