ISTANBUL — Turkey sent two firefighting aircraft Saturday to help battle wildfires in neighboring Syria as Turkish firefighters battled a blaze on their side of the border and one person was reported dead in the country’s west.

ANKARA (Reuters) -Firefighters in Turkey have contained six of nine wildfires tearing across western Izmir province, officials said on Friday, after the blazes killed two people and forced thousands to evacuate their homes earlier in the week.

Firefighters in Turkey have contained six of nine wildfires tearing across western Izmir province, officials said on Friday (July 4), after the blazes killed two people and forced thousands to evacuate their homes earlier in the week.

A fast-moving California wildfire exploded to become the state’s biggest of the year, forcing evacuations and the closure of a highway, and evoking memories of the devastating blazes that laid waste to parts of the state in January.

Smoke damage can be nearly as dangerous to both human and property values. According to The New York Times, “California is bracing for an especially brutal summer of wildfires as it still recovers from the devastating blazes in Los Angeles in January.