New fire in Akhaltsikhe extinguished
By Tea Mariamidze
Wednesday, August 30
A fire that recently hit the village of Sviri in the Akhaltsikhe district has been localized according to a statement made by the Head of Public Relations Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs Tea Pertaia.
In parallel with Sviri, a fire also erupted in Korkhi, another village of Akhaltsikhe. However, firefighters managed to put out the fire, which burnt 2-3 hectares of forest.
A helicopter was also engaged in the anti-fire efforts in Sviri. As reported, the flames have not expanded to the coniferous forest.
The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia released a statement regarding the fire, saying firefighters and pilots had worked quickly to localize.
“Once the Emergency Situations Service was informed regarding the fire, tens of firefighters were immediately sent to the scene,” the ministry stated.
Akaki Machutadze, the Governor of the Samtskhe-Javakheti Municipality, says that the fire covered only half a hectare and there is no danger that the fire might reach any settled area.
Georgia’s Interior Minister Giorgi Mghebrishvili said that an artificial reservoir of water had been made to help the helicopter fill its water container, and this aided in the quick extinguishing of the fire.
“We sent more manpower there and aviation also helped. We had no problems in fighting this fire,” he added.
The minister also noted that the reason behind the fire in Sviri, as well as in other locations,will be investigated.
“At present our main problem is completely putting out all the fires. When we have finished with this, we will sit and discuss the causes,” he said.
Weather forecasters predict rainy weather in Samtskhe-Javakheti until the end of August.
Dato Loladze, the Forensic Expert of the National Environmental Agency, said that it will be raining in Borjomi too, where an extensive fire was localized two days ago.
Firefighters are still working in Borjomi forest in order to fully eliminate the possibility of the re-eruption of the fire, which destroyed around 250 hectares of territory.
