RABAT, Aug 14 (NNN-AGENCIES) — A major forest fire in northern Morocco is mostly under control, though authorities are still fighting to extinguish it, the national water and forests agency said on Wednesday.
Firefighting operations near the tourist city of Chefchaouen “have succeeded in controlling three of the four main hotspots”, the agency (ANEF) said in a statement published by the official news service MAP.
Around 500 hectares (1,250 acres) of forest and fields were devastated by the fire, but there were no casualties, it said.
The firefighting operation was ongoing, with 450 personnel and eight aircraft deployed to the area.
“All human and logistical resources remain mobilised until the fire is fully contained,” ANEF said.
Abderrahim Houmy, director-general of the agency, said it was the largest fire of the year, with an “exceptional” spread of flames due to the rugged terrain and strong winds.
A separate fire near the city of Tetouan was brought under control on Wednesday morning, he added.
Journalists on the scene reported that hot, dry winds were still fanning the embers near Chefchaouen on Wednesday evening.
“There were strong winds that drove the fire in several directions,” Ahmed Rayane, a 52-year-old farmer, said.
He said he was worried the flames would spread into the large forest nearby.
In parts of the Chefchaouen region, home to more than 400,000 people, the fire approached houses, petrol stations and the centre of the town of Derdara. Residents of hilltop villages, armed with buckets, assisted the firefighters.
Usually popular with hikers, the wooded slopes of the Rif mountains were shrouded in thick clouds of smoke that engulfed the firefighting aircraft flying through them.
Authorities have opened an investigation to determine the cause of the fire, according to Said Benjira, the region’s director for water and forests.
As with much of western and southern Europe, Morocco has been gripped by heatwaves this summer, compounded by the strong, hot desert winds known as chergui, which blow in from the Sahara.
According to the drought index of the EU’s Copernicus satellite monitoring programme, the fire danger across the entire Mediterranean basin is rated “extreme to very extreme” from August 11 to 17, with particularly high risk in northern Morocco. — NNN-AGENCIES
