Second Tsagveri Blaze, Borjomi- Updated

UPDATED - Firefighters struggled for seven hours today to contain a blaze which started for unknown reasons in the Tsagveri forest, Borjomi region. One hectare of territory near Daba village has been damaged. Around 100 firefighters have been working with border police helicopters on site. Works will continue from 6 AM tomorrow.

As Georgian media reports, heavy equipment is to be moved to the village of Kvibisi once a blocked road of 150 meters has been cleared to ease access to the location.

According to TV reports, the relief of the area is making it difficult to extinguish the fire, which spread quickly due to windy conditions.

The Ministry of Internal Affairs of Georgia has already begun an investigation according to Article 187 on damage to property.     

UPDATE August 20: Fire near the Daba village is nearly extinguished. Volunteers are on site helping fire fighters to put out small areas of fire still remaining. Reportedly, the fire, which started yesterday has burned down 5 hectares of forest. 

The Minister of Internal Affairs of Georgia, who came to Tsagveri village earlier today, said the fire brigades were mobilized from all around the country, and they worked extremely effectively. As the Minister said, the obscure location as well as weather conditions helped the fire to spread. Weather conditions are better today, and hopefully the fire will be fully extinguished.

UPDATE 21:58 21.08.2017: 

Despite hopes that it would be extinguished, the fire near the village of Daba in Borjomi has re-intensified and is spreading rapidly. The helicopter sent from Azerbaijan helped to stop the fire in daylight hours, however, the helicopters are unable to work by night, due to lack of visibility. Helicopters will restart firefighting efforts early morning tomorrow.

The area burning is rumored to be that which was damaged during the August War 2008.

Meanwhile, the Georgian Public Broadcaster reports that Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili is going to Borjomi, and a special committee is being created in order to “eliminate the fire in a maximally short period of time”. The special committee will include representatives from the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Ministry of Environment Protection, Ministry of Regional Development and Infrastructure, local municipality representatives and crisis management council members, to work in a 24-hour regime to put out the blaze. No evacuation of the local population is planned at this time.

By Nino Gugunishvili

Photo: Borjomi Fire. Source: Public Broadcaster