(Larache) Two women died of “asphyxiation” after several forest fires broke out on Monday evening in the province of Larache, in northern Morocco, already experienced recently by destructive fires, we learned on Tuesday from the local authorities.
Posted at 5:43 p.m.
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 respond to calls from local authorities to evacuate the homes threatened by the fires”, indicated the provincial authorities of Larache.
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 with 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 have recently been devastated by forest fires, more than 700 families from a dozen douars (villages) have had to be moved since Monday as a preventive measure.
Four outbreaks were still active late Tuesday evening in the Larache region, south of Tangier.
The fire-fighting services on the ground are backed up there by four Canadair water bombers which take their supplies from a nearby dam and off the Mediterranean port of Tangier.
Four other disasters, fanned by strong winds, are still spreading in the province of Tanouate, according to local authorities. A threatened village has been secured.
Finally, another fire has destroyed since Monday evening 35 hectares of wooded land in the province of Fahs-Anjra, also in the north, according to the same sources.
On Friday, the Moroccan government released emergency aid of nearly 30 million euros to implement measures for the victims of forest fires and reduce their impact on agricultural activity and the environment.
According to the Minister of Agriculture, Rural Development and Water and Forests, Mohamed Sadiki, the total area affected by the recent forest fires in several northern regions of the kingdom has reached 10,300 hectares.
By comparison, 2,782 hectares of forest had been destroyed by 285 fires from January to September 2021, in particular in the mountainous region of the Rif (north).
For Saïd Chakri, a Moroccan environmentalist, these fires are largely due to human causes, but “the reality of climate change” has contributed to them.
Morocco has been hit for several weeks by scorching temperatures, in a context of exceptional drought and water stress.