After Algeria, Tunisia and Turkey, it is Morocco's turn to face violent fires on its soil.

On the night of Sunday to Monday, firefighters continued their efforts to fight fires ravaging forests in northern Morocco, for the second day in a row.

Their teams benefited in particular from the support of four water bombers.

But the changing winds "do not help to control the fire", explained the regional director of the Department of water and forests in Chefchaouen, Rachid El-Anzi.

According to him, 200 hectares of forests had already been destroyed by late Sunday evening.

An "exceptional" heat wave

"No casualties are to be deplored, priority having been given to preventing the spread of fire to inhabited areas," he added.

The causes of these fires are not yet known, said Rachid Anzi, believing that the high heat and winds could be triggers.

Several regions of the kingdom have recorded temperatures of up to 49 degrees since Friday, according to the Department of Meteorology.

High temperatures accompanied by winds were expected until Monday in several regions of Morocco.

An “exceptional” heat wave between July 9 and 11 had already “favored the outbreak of 20 fires” in the kingdom, burning 1,200 hectares of forests, according to the Department of Water and Forests.

Global warming involved

The Mediterranean basin has been affected over the past two weeks by fires, especially in Greece, Turkey and Algeria.

In the latter country, although the authorities announced Sunday evening that most of the fires had been brought under control, they will have left more than 90 dead or missing in a week.

In the eastern Mediterranean basin, however, new fires broke out near Jerusalem in wooded areas and houses in several villages were evacuated, Israeli police said.

A warming climate increases the likelihood of heat waves and droughts, and in turn, fires.

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