Three years have passed since the incident, which started on July 28, 2021 in Manavgat and spread to Akseki, Gündoğmuş, İbradı, Alanya districts due to the wind, was recorded as one of the largest forest fires in the history of the Republic of Turkey . 6 people lost their lives in the fire and approximately 60 thousand hectares of land were damaged.
After the fire, teams from the Antalya Forestry Regional Directorate carried out intensive work in the region. The teams accelerated their work to re-green the region. The teams, who carried out greening work by taking saplings with shovels or sowing seeds, brought more than 5 million saplings into the soil. In the third year of the fire, the re-greening of the burned areas was seen from the air. It was stated that green started to dominate the region, whose symbol is black.
Antalya Forestry Regional Manager Zafer Derince , emphasizing the size of the forest area in the city, stated that Manavgat was going through a difficult period. Derince made a statement, “We carried out natural rejuvenation work on an area of 30 thousand hectares. We carried out afforestation work by planting saplings and sowing seeds on an area of 20 thousand hectares. We also left 10 thousand hectares of stony, rocky areas to protect nature.”
Derince stated that the teams brought 110 tons of seeds together with the soil and said, “We planted more than 5 million saplings. There were also fire-resistant trees among these saplings. Our saplings reached an average of 50-60 centimeters.” Stating that their aim was to prevent any fires, Derince stated that they did not leave the fields after the fires and continued to work until they restored the forest to its former state.
