MES of Armenia sent 57 of its staff to help Georgia in Borjomi Gorge fire fighting
ArmInfo. The Ministry of Emergency Measures of Armenia sent 57 of its employees to help Georgia in putting out a fire in the Borjomi Gorge.
As the press service of the Emergencies Ministry of Armenia told ArmInfo, Georgia through the Coordination Center Virtual OSOCC of the United Nations International Energy Community (UN) applied to the international community for help in extinguishing a fire in the Borjomi Gorge. "On the instructions of the President of Armenia and the corresponding instructions of the Prime Minister, the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia took appropriate measures to promptly respond to the appeal of the Georgian side. On August 22 at 16:30 from the Ministry to Georgia was sent a column of the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Armenia consisting of 8 rescue and fire fighting vehicles and one rescue vehicle, one car of the medical center for disasters and a mobile control point (57 in all), which on the spot will serve as the headquarters for the operational Coordinating actions," the ministry said.
Earlier, Georgian Prime Minister Georgy Kvirikashvili said that Armenia is also involved in the work to eliminate the fire in the Borjomi Gorge. "We received very important aid from Azerbaijan. By the end of the day, a very large firefight plane from Turkey will arrive, the decision was made by the Turkish Prime Minister, despite the fact that they themselves have problems with this. I also want to say that a number of crews from Armenia are also on the road," Kvirikashvili said.
Information on large-scale forest fires in the Borjomi-Kharagauli Park was received on August 20, at about 2:30 pm. Because of the strong wind, the fire quickly spread to the territory of more than 5 hectares. Fire equipment was sent to the area of the village, however, due to the difficult terrain, it was not possible to approach the fires for a long time. The helicopter of the border police of the Georgian Ministry of Internal Affairs was involved in extinguishing the fire. At the request of the Georgian authorities, on August 21, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev ordered to send a helicopter to the Ministry of Emergency Situations of Georgia. In the extinguishing of the fire, a fire aircraft from Turkey also participates. It also became known that Georgia refused from the assistance offered by Russia. According to the latest data, the fire area covers more than 15 hectares.