Several fires were declared themselves on Monday evening in the province of Larache, in northern Morocco, a region already tested by flames earlier in July. In total, four people have died in Moroccan fires since mid-July.
Le Monde with AFP
Two women died by “asphyxiation” after the departure on Monday 25 July on the evening of several forest fires in the province of Larache, northern Morocco, local authorities. These deaths bring to four the number of people who have died because of the fires in the north of the kingdom since mid-July.
The last two victims “did not want to answer the calls of local authorities to evacuate the dwellings threatened by the fires,” the provincial authorities of Larache told the France-Presse.
The day before, a volunteer had perished in the province of Taounate (North) while fighting the flames alongside the intervention teams mobilized to extinguish a fire which ravaged at least 33 hectares of wooded land, mainly planted of pines. Another person, victim of the flames, had died in the province of Larache in mid-July.
In this same area, where thousands of hectares were recently devastated by forest fires, more than 700 families from a dozen villages had to be moved since Monday as a preventive basis. Four homes were still active Tuesday evening in the Larache region, south of Tangier.
The Floor Anti-Firestrussing Services are seconded there by four Canadair water bombers who get their supplies in a neighboring dam and off the Mediterranean port in Tangier.
10,300 hectares affected
Four other claims, fussy by violent winds, are still spreading in the province of Tanouate, according to local authorities. A threatened village has been secure. Finally, another fire has destroyed since Monday evening 35 hectares of wooded lands in the province of Fahs-Anjra, also in the North, according to the same sources.
Friday, the Moroccan government has released emergency aid of nearly 30 million euros to implement measures in favor of the victims of forest fires and reduce their impact on agricultural activity and the environment .
According to the Minister of Agriculture, Mohamed Sadiki, the total area affected by the forest fires recently in several northern regions of the kingdom reached 10,300 hectares. By way of comparison, 2,782 hectares of forest had been destroyed by 285 fires from January to September 2021, in particular in the mountainous region of Rif (North).
Morocco has been struck for several weeks by scorching temperatures, in a context of extraordinary drought and water stress.