Major Fire in Kotayk Province: The Flames Visible from Several Kilometers

On March 3rd, a major fire broke out in Kotayk Province. At around 18:35, the Emergency Situations Ministry's operational management center received a call reporting a large area of grassland burning at the beginning of Garni village, along with adjacent fruit orchards.

Photographer Gagik Shamshyan reports from the scene that emergency responders from Rescue Service Unit 45 and later Unit 9 arrived quickly, with one firefighting team deployed to the area.

Firefighters, along with residents of Garni village and the community leader, Aharon Sahakyan, managed to prevent the spread of the fire amid challenging conditions and ultimately extinguished it. According to the photographer, prior to the firefighters' arrival, villagers, led by the mayor, first contained the fire's spread towards the livestock, and then the firefighters from Kotayk and Yerevan completely extinguished the flames.

In order to reach the fire's hotspots, firefighters and villagers had to walk nearly 1 kilometer, as vehicle access to the area was not possible. Thanks to the efforts of the villagers and firefighters, over 1,000 fruit trees, including apple, pear, walnut, and other types of trees, were saved.

The initial hypothesis suggests that the fire may have been set intentionally, although this remains a preliminary assumption.