Firefighters so far unable to contain fire in Georgia's Borjomi Gorge, Armenia sending in aid
TBILISI/YEREVAN. Aug 22 (Interfax) - Three helicopters, about 400 firefighters, more than 100 forest rangers, 500 officials from the Georgian Interior Ministry special missions department, and dozens of items of hardware mobilized from different parts of Georgia are involved in efforts to contain a fire in the Borjomi Gorge, the ad hoc fire crisis center reported on Tuesday.
Prime Minister Giorgi Kvirikashvili, all members of the crisis center, and the heads of the relevant services and agencies are at the emergency scene at the moment, it said.
"The efforts to contain the fire now are complicated by meteorological conditions, as the wind is growing stronger amid high temperature, which produces new fire spots," it said.
"Ambulance crews and mobile resuscitation units have been deployed at the area, but nobody has yet required medical assistance. Health Minister David Sergeyenko is at the emergency scene, and he said there was no need for evacuating the local population for the time being.
The fire poses no threat to the 300-mm Borjomi-Bakuriani gas pipeline passing four kilometers away from the fire scene, it said.
Armenian specialists are going to the aid of the Georgian rescue teams, who have been fighting the blaze in the Borjomi Gorge for the third day.
"A convoy of vehicles has already left for Georgia. Eleven special firefighting and rescue vehicles and 56 specialists are heading for Borjomi now," a spokesperson for the Armenian Emergency Situations Ministry told Interfax on Tuesday.
Azerbaijan also sent in a helicopter at the Georgian Emergency Situations Agency's request on Monday. The helicopter started fighting the fire together with a helicopter of the Georgian border police the same day.
The fire in the Borjomi Gorge has spread onto over 12 hectares of territory. The firefighters are working mainly at three critical locations to prevent the blaze from spreading toward Borjomi, Bakuriani, Tsageri, and Daba.