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Azerbaijan will send another group of firefighters to help extinguish massive forest fires across Turkey, Minister of Emergency Situations Kamaladdin Heydarov told APA on August 6.
Heydarov said that 200 employees of the Special Risk Rescue Service will be sent to Turkey, reminding that 510 employees of the ministry, Be-200 CS amphibious aircraft, a helicopter and 93 firefighting equipment have already been sent to Turkey since the outbreak of wildfires.
The minister said that apart from extinguishing fires, employees of the ministry are also involved in the protection of the Kemerkoy and Yenikoy thermal power plants in Mughla region.
Azerbaijani specialists headed by Deputy Minister of Emergency Situations Etibar Mirzayev are working jointly with Turkish specialist to coordinate the process of preventing fires.
Heydarov noted that Azerbaijan has extensive experience in providing assistance to countries affected by disasters. An international search and rescue team has been equipped with all kinds of rescue equipment, including aircraft and helicopters, to carry out disaster relief operations in various countries, as well as delivering humanitarian aid, he said.
Azerbaijan has actively participated in elimination of forest fires in Russia, Israel, Georgia, floods in Pakistan, Russia, Afghanistan, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, earthquakes in the Van province of Turkey as well as in Iran, the minister reminded, adding that the government has also provided aid to people suffering from famine in Osh province of Kyrgyzstan, Haiti, hurricanes in the Philippines and famine in Somalia.
Today the ministry has a mobile headquarters equipped with modern firefighting, rescue vehicles, emergency crisis management systems – buses, Hammer radios, special ladders, special equipment used in rescue operations, ” BMW motorcycles, bomb disposal systems, multifunctional boats for rescue operations at sea, lifeboats, search boats, Be-200 CS amphibious aircraft, helicopters, fire-fighting and other rescue functions.
There are mobile laboratories, mobile hospitals to provide full-scale medical care to victims and patients in a short period of time in the area of the emergency and in areas with difficult road conditions, Heydarov stressed.
The first group of Azerbaijani rescue team consisting of 100 firefighters was sent to Turkey’s Mugla province after the fires started on July 28, while the second team of firefighters and rescuers was sent to the fraternal country on July 31.
By Vugar Khalilov
