ISTANBUL — Firefighters were tackling blazes across Turkey on Friday as dry, hot and windy weather conditions led to a series of fires, including one that threatened World War I memorials and graves at the Gallipoli battle site.
At the peninsula where an Allied landing was beaten back by Ottoman troops in a yearlong campaign in 1915, the flames reached Canterbury Cemetery, where soldiers from New Zealand are interred.
Images of the site in northwest Turkey showed soot-blackened gravestones in a scorched garden looking out over the Aegean Sea.
The fire was brought under control by Friday. Officials said it was started by a spark from electricity lines that spread through forested areas.
Elsewhere, however, the continuous work of emergency crews stretched over days and nights. Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said teams were still fighting 17 of 47 forest fires that were active on Friday.
On the west coast, a fire threatened houses on the outskirts of Izmir, Turkey's third largest city, where a blaze broke out in the woods Thursday night. 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.
As dense smoke rose into the sky, hundreds of stray animals were removed from municipal shelters and local media reported that flames up to 120 feet (30 meters) high were approaching a housing complex in Dogancay.
