English: Fourteen wildfires were blazing out of control in six provinces across southern Turkey on July 30, 2021, sending long plumes of dark smoke swirling over the Mediterranean Sea. The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on board NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired a true-color image of the scene on that same day. The smoke is so thick in several locations that it completely obscures the blue waters of the Mediterranean Sea from view.

The largest wildfire, which appears as the largest collection of red “hot spots” near the central coast of Turkey, is in the Manavgat District of Antalya Province. It ignited on July 28, when air temperatures sweltered at about 98˚F (37˚C). It has damaged more than two dozen homes, injured approximately 50 people, and three people died due to fire in Antalya Province.

Seventy-one fires have broken out in seventeen provinces of Turkey in the last week, claiming a total of four lives. On July 30, the government reported that 57 of the fires were under control.