TRNC plans to hire firefighting helicopter for 40K TL per day

THE TRNC is planning to hire a firefighting helicopter for the rest of the summer season at

a cost of 40,000TL a day, the head of the Forestry Department revealed this week.

Cemil Karzaoğlu said negotiations on the lease of a firefighting helicopter were due to be completed yesterday. The helicopter will be used in addition to other measures deployed to prevent and detect forest fires.

“We have set up our stations, we have installed three of the last four cameras in the required areas and we are constantly working and monitoring,” Mr Karzaoğlu said.

He added that two unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) are currently providing “24-hour aerial monitoring”.

Stating that the helicopter costs 40,000TL

per day to hire, Mr Karzaoğlu continued: “If we keep the helicopter for 100 days, it will cost 4 million TL. The state of the country’s economy is clear, we could easily take other fire precautions with this money.”

Mr Karzaoğlu said that the helicopter could also be used by the Health Ministry and Civil Defence during the winter.

He added that his department is in “constant contact with the Turkish Forestry and Urbanisation Ministry” and that fire assistance from Turkey “is only a phone call away”.

Mr Karzaoğlu also said that members of the public should be “mindful of the environment” by properly disposing of cigarette butts, glass bottles and other “potential fire hazards”.

“While the firefighting helicopter is important, protecting our environment is essential,” he said.

“As citizens we need to take the necessary precautions to prevent fires.”

Despite being cleaned up “countless times”, some “insensitive citizens persistently leave rubbish on the roadsides which causes fires, as well as pollution”.

Mr Karzaoğlu noted that “much more awareness” is needed to take fire precautions to the “highest level” and that the main cause of blazes that have broken out so far this summer are sparks from power lines and combine harvesters.

“If there is a malfunction in power lines, it should be repaired,” he said.

“Land under power lines that create risks should be cleaned, as should the transformers.”

Farmers should also keep fire extinguishers with them when harvesting their land, he said.

“As it is currently the harvest season, fires from combine harvesters can be seen as a natural occurrence.

“Some farmers put out a fire right away with fire extinguishers but there are also those who don’t have them.

“Farmers should rake and plow the sections of their field near a road with a width of two tractors so that their crops or their neighbours’ crops won’t burn as a result of any fire.”

Another risk posed is from barbecues by pandemic-weary people. “It’s obvious that our people grew tired of being locked down during the pandemic period and I don’t blame them,” Mr Karzaoğlu said.

“With the decision to reopen, some citizens who have longed for a picnic will light fires. Charcoal that is not extinguished creates a fire hazard due to the wind. Our citizens should be much more careful regarding these issues.”