More than 10,000 hectares have been affected by forest fires in several regions of Morocco since the beginning of the summer.
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Three firefighters were killed and two others were seriously injured on Monday, August 15, during a fire in a forest in northern Morocco which, according to a preliminary investigation, would be of human origin. The five firefighters were in their vehicle which fell into a ravine as they battled the flames. The injured were hospitalized in Tangier. Four men suspected of having started the fire were arrested and handed over to the judicial police before being brought to justice, said the authorities of the province of M’diq-Fnideq, near the cities of Tangier and Tetouan. According to the local press, the forest fires are still not completely under control.
“The public prosecutor (…) will act firmly against any person allegedly involved in this case, as well as in any other similar act aimed at destroying the forest space in our country and therefore affecting the ecological balance, in addition to the serious damage to persons and property”, warned the Attorney General of Tetouan in a statement. The fire, which broke out on Monday evening, has so far caused the destruction of around 120 hectares of forest cover, according to the latest estimates. The fire services, a total of 500 elements of the Civil Protection and three Canadair water bombers, carrying out 40 rotations each during the day, were still trying to control the disaster and prevent it from spreading to inhabited areas.
Last month, forest fires in the north of the kingdom killed four people. At the end of July, a villager was indicted for involuntary fire in the province of Larache, the region most affected by the fires. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, more than 10,000 hectares have been affected by forest fires in several northern regions of Morocco since the beginning of the summer. By comparison, 2,782 hectares of forest had been destroyed by 285 fires from January to September 2021, in particular in the mountainous Rif region (north). Like the south of Western Europe, Morocco has been hit by scorching temperatures and exceptional drought causing water stress.
According to a World Bank report, natural disasters (drought, floods, etc.) cost Morocco, one of the countries in the Middle East and North Africa region most exposed to geological and climatic risks, more than 565 million euros per year.