THE EFFECTS OF FOREST FIRES IN THE SUMMER 2021 ON FIRE FIGHTINGS ANTALYA FIRE DEPARTMENT EXAMPLE

Abstract

Disasters (earthquake, flood, tsunami, forest fires, etc.) experienced in the world due to global
warming and climate changes continue to increase. Unfortunately, these disasters, which have
increased in the world, have also been reflected in our country.
Forest fires in the period of July-August 2021 are among the largest recorded forest fires in history.
Forest fires in the period of July-August 2021 are among the largest recorded forest fires in history.
Between these dates, a total of 135 thousand hectares of land, including the rural area, unfortunately
burned in the forest fires in the province of Antalya. During the fire, evacuation was carried out in
nearly 50 neighborhoods. Unfortunately, the fire turned into a Level 3 disaster and hundreds of
buildings were damaged. The fact that the damaged buildings were heavily damaged and
moderately damaged increased the size of the material damage. Unfortunately, 250 people were
injured and 7 people died in the fires. The fire also adversely affected wildlife, and as a result,
hundreds of small and large animals living in the forest lost their lives, along with hundreds of
small cattle and sheep. Fire brigades from all over our country, especially the Antalya Fire Brigade,
participated in the intervention efforts to forest fires in order to extinguish this fire without losing
time and take it under control.
Disaster Management; It can be defined as an integrated struggle process that includes all the
necessary factors to reduce the damage caused by the negative effects of disasters and to carry out
preventive works, to intervene in the negative situations after the disaster in an effective, fast and
timely manner, to reduce the effects of the disaster and to create a safe and new living space for the
society. In other words, disaster management is the responsibility of all public institutions and nongovernmental organizations in order to reduce the damages of the disaster, to carry out preventive
works, to take the precautions before, during and after the disaster, and to plan, coordinate, direct,
support and effectively implement the necessary works.It is a multi-disciplinary, multi-actor, multi-faceted, dynamic and integrated risk governance process
that requires organizations to use their opportunities and resources in line with the targeted strategic
priorities and objectives. Antalya Fire Department has an experienced and dynamic structure in
responding to forest fires. It intervened with all its devotion to the forest fires in the summer of
2021 and prevented the fire from causing further damage. Whatever the reason, forest fires turn into
disasters when they negatively affect human settlements and the entire ecosystem in the region
where they occur. A fact that we experience a lot is the fact that forest fires repeat themselves or
have a rotating period. In other words, forest fires are constant and will continue to happen.
Therefore, we can deduce that forest fires that occur in certain regions at certain periods or at
periodic intervals will repeat themselves. Even in the most developed countries of the world, forest
fires unfortunately repeat themselves in certain periods. But we should not forget that a disaster that
has happened to us is also an opportunity for a possible disaster that may happen to us later. We
need to take advantage of this opportunity and pass the stages of preparedness, mitigation, recovery
and response more efficiently before a disaster occurs.