A helicopter tries to put out the wildfire in Borjomi in central Georgia on Aug. 22, 2017. A wildfire that has been raging in central Georgia has re-intensified and spread rapidly, ruining hopes of extinguishment, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs said Tuesday. The massive forest fire which broke out on Sunday in the Borjomi Gorge has been raging in central Georgia for three days. (Xinhua/Kulumbegashvili Tamuna)
TBILISI, Aug. 22 (Xinhua) -- A wildfire that has been raging in central Georgia has re-intensified and spread rapidly, ruining hopes of extinguishment, the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs said Tuesday.
The massive forest fire which broke out on Sunday in the Borjomi Gorge has been raging in central Georgia for three days.
The latest estimations said that dozens of hectares of local forestland were on fire Monday night.
On Monday, Georgian Minister of Internal Affairs Giorgi Mghebrishvili told media that the fire had been contained and hopefully it would be fully extinguished on Monday night.
However, due to the unexpected strong wind, the contained fire began to re-erupt and spread quickly during the night.
Georgian Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, who arrived in Borjomi last night, said Tuesday morning that the situation is "better than last night," but there still exists a threat of the blaze spreading because it is still windy in Borjomi.
He had ordered to set up a special headquarters to unite all relevant state agencies to tackle the fire.
Currently, three helicopters have been dispatched to extinguish the fire, the Ministry of Internal Affairs said.
Apart from helicopters, up to 500 firefighters, rescuers and rangers have been fighting the fire since last night.
There are also reports that the Georgian side is negotiating with neighboring countries for more help to fight the fire.
Head of Georgian National Security Service Vakhtang Gomelauri, who also has been in Borjomi since last night, said that the army will join the firefighters if needed.
