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YEREVAN.- A massive fire has broken out on the slopes of Mount Ararat, and the fire is still far away from the Armenian-Turkish border, Satenik Asilyan, spokesperson of the ministry of emergency situations told Armenian News – NEWS.am.
“Fire spreads beyond the borders of our country. For this reason, we can not provide information on the causes of the fire,” said Satenik Asilyan.
Crews are working to put out a fire that is raging out of control in Pano Pyrgos in the Tylliria area, the fire service said on Wednesday evening.
The fire broke out at around 8.15pm in the area of Ayios Andronikos.
Crews from the forestry department form Kampos, Yialia and Stavros tis Psokas have arrived in the area to assist the local team at Pyrgos.
The fire is burning pine trees, bushes and wild vegetation.
Senior official of the forestry department, Andreas Christou said that the firefighting task is difficult due to strong winds in the area.
At least 50 people are feared dead in wildfires burning in the Attica region around Athens, in Greece’s worst fire crisis in more than a decade, the BBC reports.
According to the Red Cross, 26 bodies were found in the yard of a villa in the seaside village of Mati, which is at the centre of the disaster.
Before news of the grim discovery, the official death toll stood at 24.
As part of a huge rescue effort, emergency workers used boats and helicopters to evacuate a beach.
Hundreds of firefighters are battling the blazes and the authorities are seeking international assistance.
The Azerbaijani military has opened gunfire at the town of Tchambarak in Armenia’s Gegharkunik Province in the night of July 13, defense ministry spokesman Artsrun Hovhannisyan told ARMENPRESS.
“The situation is currently calm. There are no serious consequences. They [Azerbaijan] opened fire from small arms,” he said.
A skyscraper that was slated to become a Trump International Hotel in the Azerbaijani capital of Baku has caught fire.
The Azadliq newspaper reported that the blaze broke out on the middle floors of the 33-storey building, which is locally known as Trump Tower, and spread.
Etibar Mirzoev, deputy head of the Emergency Situations Ministry, said there were no injuries and authorities were working to establish the cause of the of the fire.
He said it took more than three hours to extinguish the flames and suggested the response was delayed because of road closures put in place for Sunday’s Grand Prix, on the Baku City Circuit.
It came after an apartment fire at Trump Tower in New York left a prominent art dealer dead and six firefighters injured earlier this month.
Development was started on the tower in Baku a decade ago but it has never opened.
Originally planned as a luxury apartment building by local developers, the project was taken over by the future US President’s company in 2012.
Local US officials have confirmed that the death toll from this week’s wildfires in the state of California has climbed to 31, making it the deadliest series of blazes in the state’s history.
Fire officials said on Thursday the tally could rise further in the eight counties which have been affected by the fires.
In Sonoma County alone, where entire neighborhoods have been destroyed, hundreds of people are still unaccounted for.
The fires have swept through California’s wine country, leaving thousands of people homeless and burning over 190,000 acres (76,000 hectares) of land.
Firefighters said gusty winds and dry conditions have hampered their efforts to contain the fires, which began on Sunday. Some 8,000 firefighters were battling 20 blazes as of Thursday.
“What this means is that our fires will continue to burn erratically,” California fire chief Ken Pimlott told a press conference. “They have the potential to shift in any direction at any time.
“We are a long way from being done with this catastrophe,” he said.
On Tuesday, President Donald Trump declared a major disaster in California, releasing funding and resources to fight the catastrophe.
Forest fires are common in the western United States during hot months, but few have claimed as many lives as this week’s blaze.
YEREVAN. – Neighboring Georgia has asked Armenia’s assistance in putting out the large fire that is burning in the forests of Borjomi town.
Director of the Crisis Management Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) of Armenia, Hovhannes Khangeldyan, informed about the aforementioned to Armenian News-NEWS.am.
A consultation was convened at the MES, during which it was decided to dispatch a rescue service convoy to Georgia.
The convoy is already on the way. It comprises eight fire trucks, paramedics, and a mobile control station.
The Armenian Emergency Services announced that on 16 August at 09:24 the fire which destroyed the surrounding forests and forests near the village of Artavan (Vayots Dzor region) for almost five days was extinguished. The fire which first ravaged the grass and the bushes before attacking the trees of the surrounding forests of Artavan began on August 10 at 18:50. The fire originating from the sparks of a car, originated on the edge of the Vayk-Saravan road to spread in the surrounding fields suffering from drought. In total, 450 to 500 hectares of grass and shrubs and 80 hectares of forest have disappeared in this fire.
Armenia’s Khosrov Forest State Reserve national park. is still on fore. As of 7:30am on Sunday, 77 rescuers, 50 servicemen of Ararat military unit, 60 policemen, 50 forestry workers and residents of Urtsadzor village are taking part in putting out the fire.
Apart from this, two helicopters of the Ministry of Defense of Armenia, which carried out six flights, have joined the rescue squads.
As of Friday 2pm, the surface area of the grass and forests that are burning in Armenia’s Vayots Dzor Province is approximately 250 hectares.
The Minister of Emergency Situations, Davit Tonoyan, is administering over the firefighting efforts. The Minister of Nature Protection, Artsvik Minasyan, is also at the scene.
For the first time, water from the nearby reservoir is used in order to put out this large fire.
In addition, a private company is assisting in fighting against this fire by providing heavy equipment as well as water pipelines, which are supplying water to fire trucks. If needed, the company’s rescue squad also stands ready to join the firefighting efforts.
The Crisis Management Center of the Ministry of Emergency Situations had received an anonymous call, on Thursday at 6:50pm, that a grass-covered area was on fire nearby Artavan village in Vayots Dzor Province.
