Turkey battles wind-driven wildfire near resort for 3rd day

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) — Firefighting crews are battling a wind-driven wildfire that has blackened swaths of pine forest near a popular resort in southwestern Turkey and driven hundreds of people from their homes. More than 2,500 firefighters, aided by water-dropping planes and helicopters, were deployed on Thursday. The blaze erupted late on Tuesday in the Bordubet region, near Marmaris on Turkey’s Aegean coast, and rapidly grew, fanned by winds. Authorities have evacuated close to 275 people from the area as a precaution. Prosecutors were investigating the cause of the blaze, including the possibility of arson. The blaze in Bordubet comes one year after wildfires, described as the worst in Turkey’s history, ravaged forests in the Mediterranean and Aegean regions, killing eight people.