1,700 evacuated, firefighter dead as Turkey wildfires tear through major city

Wildfires that have harassed Turkey for weeks are now threatening the country's fourth-largest city on Sunday forcing evacuations and leaving another firefighter dead Fires surround the city of Bursa in Turkey's northwest with the cabinet saying it has evacuated people and deployed roughly firefighters to combat the blaze The conflagration has so far scorched over acres and claimed the life of at least one firefighter who had a heart attack on the scene Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli mentioned fire crews across the country confronted separate blazes Saturday The country s northwest was under the greatest threat including Karabuk where wildfires have burned since Tuesday he declared The General Directorate of Meteorology disclosed Turkey recorded its highest ever temperature of degrees Fahrenheit in the southeastern Sirnak province on Friday FOX CORPORATION RELIEF CAMPAIGN RAISES MILLION TO AID TEXAS COMMUNITIES HIT BY DEVASTATING FLOODSFourteen people have died in modern weeks including rescue participants and forestry workers killed Wednesday in a fire in Eskisehir in western Turkey Justice Minister Yilmaz Tunc commented late Saturday that prosecutors had investigated fires in provinces since June and that legal action had been taken against individuals LOS ANGELES POLICE HOPE TO REUNITE FIREARM OWNERS WITH GUNS AFTER DEVASTATING PALISADES FIREThe blazes have threatened to cross borders into Turkey's neighboring countries of Greece and Bulgaria Bulgaria's National Fire Utility chief Alexander Djartov commented they have enlisted the help of European Union partners to combat the fires He revealed aircraft were expected from the Czech Republic Slovakia France Hungary and Sweden later Sunday Turkey says it has used the military to reinforce beleaguered firefighters in several areas The Associated Press contributed to this account