A total of 6,800 forest and rural fires have been recorded across Türkiye so far in 2025, which ravaged approximately 80,000 hectares of land, marking it as one of the most destructive years for wildfires in the past decade.
“In 2025 alone, 80,000 hectares have been lost to fires. Although the year is not yet over, this is already the second-highest figure after 2021, when 139,503 hectares were burned,” said Associate Professor Serhun Sağlam from Istanbul University’s Faculty of Forestry.
Over the past 10 years, 28,000 forest fires and 29,500 rural fires have burned a total of 255,000 hectares.
In 2024, 2,798 forest and 4,339 rural fires destroyed around 28,000 hectares, highlighting a sharp increase in burned area this year.
Sağlam warned that fire risk remains elevated in Türkiye’s Mediterranean and Aegean regions until mid-October.
“While cooler weather in Istanbul and surrounding areas has reduced the danger, high temperatures continue in the south, keeping the risk alive,” he said.
He added that since the fire season has not yet ended, 2025 could become the year with the highest number of fires on record.
Sağlam emphasized that human activity continues to be the leading cause of wildfires.
“Nearly half of the fires still have unknown origins. However, many are caused by careless human behavior — people discarding cigarettes from vehicles, accidents near forested areas or mishandled fire sources during activities like beekeeping,” the expert explained, stressing the importance of long-term public education.
Türkiye has endured one of its toughest fire seasons this year, fueled by a prolonged drought that has left around 60 percent of the country’s soil arid. At least 17 people, including 10 rescue volunteers and forestry workers who died in July, have been killed while fighting the flames.
