Wildfires in western Turkey threaten houses on the outskirts of the city and war memorials at Gallipoli

ISTANBUL (AP) — Firefighters battled wildfires across Turkey on Friday as dry, hot and windy weather conditions fueled a series of fires, including one that threatened World War I memorials and graves at the Gallipoli battlefield .

On the peninsula where an Allied landing was repulsed by Ottoman troops in a year-long campaign in 1915, flames reached Canterbury Cemetery, where New Zealand soldiers are buried.

Images of the site in northwestern Turkey showed soot-blackened stones in a scorched garden overlooking the Aegean Sea.

The fire was brought under control by Friday. Officials said it started from a spark from power lines that spread through wooded areas.

Elsewhere, however, the continued work of emergency crews stretched into days and nights.

On the west coast, a fire threatened homes on the outskirts of Izmir, Turkey’s third-largest city, where a forest fire broke out on Thursday evening. Residents fled their homes as ash fell around them.

“The fire in the Dogancay region unfortunately reached residential areas due to the wind. We want our citizens living in the region to evacuate their homes as soon as possible,” district mayor Irfan Onal posted on social media.

In Manisa province, a fire was burning for a third day in Gordes, a wooded rural district in northwestern Turkey. Nearly 80 houses were evacuated and most of the buildings in the village of Karayakup suffered severe fire damage, Demiroren news agency reported.

Meanwhile, near Bolu, firefighters were working for the next day to put out a fire.

Turkey has mobilized dozens of planes, hundreds of vehicles and thousands of personnel to fight the fires. Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli warned of an increased risk of fires over the weekend due to low humidity, strong winds and high temperatures.

“Our capacity and ability to intervene is limited to a certain point,” he told reporters. “It is not possible to emerge victorious from this fight without the support of our citizens. Therefore, I ask for high-level sensitivity, especially during these three days.”

The General Directorate of Forestry has warned people not to light fires outside for the next 10 days due to the current weather conditions in western Turkey, warning of a 70% higher risk of wildfires.

Earlier this week, firefighters in neighboring Greece battled a blaze that burned an area nearly twice the size of Manhattan. The fire in northern Athens destroyed dozens of houses before it was brought under control on Tuesday. One person was killed.

In June, a wildfire spread through settlements in southeastern Turkey, killing 11 people and leaving dozens more in need of medical treatment.