İzmir Fire Department receives €13.5 million for advanced firefighting technology

The İzmir Metropolitan Municipality has allocated €13.5 million, financed by the World Bank and İller Bankası under the Turkey Earthquake, Flood and Forest Fire Emergency Zoning Project (TEFWER), to modernise the İzmir Fire Department’s equipment.

The procurement includes ten next‑generation terrain bulldozers, two unmanned fire‑extinguishing robots and a range of specialised intervention vehicles. The new assets are designed to operate in rugged, forested and urban‑narrow environments, deliver up to 8 000 litres of water per minute and create protective safety zones to shield both civilians and firefighters. Delivery is scheduled for completion by March 2028.

Şeref Kardeş, head of Planning Support Services at the İzmir Fire Department, highlighted the need for such technology in areas where forests and settlements intersect, noting that the robots can reach previously inaccessible rural terrain and help prevent fires from reaching populated zones. Similar systems are already in use in Istanbul, Ankara and abroad in the United States, Australia, Germany and Italy.