Another Fire Breaks Out in Old Gagra, Abkhazia

Another large fire erupted this morning in Abkhazia’s town of Gagra, as fire crews were already battling several blazes. 

The chief of Gagra’s fire and rescue staff, Davit Bganga, said: “The night passed peacefully. We extinguished several fires, but in the morning, a new fire broke out in the Old Gagra district and it spread. Rescuers and locals are trying to put it out with their own hands”.

Abkhazia has been struggling with a wildfire for six days already, since the initial outbreak on January 4.

Several residential buildings have burned down in the Gudauta, Tkuarchal and Gali districts. In the west of Abkhazia, the fire came close to the Psou-Ingur highway.

Half of Abkhazia was today left without electricity due to an emergency shutdown caused by the forest fires.

The central Georgian government has been offering assistance to the Kremlin-backed Abkhaz authorities since the first day the wildfires erupted. The Abkhaz authorities have refused. 

"Sokhumi does not need Tbilisi’s help to extinguish its forest fires. Our firefighters are coping with the situation," the so-called Security Council Secretary Sergei Shamba told Sova news.