Algeria: 15 dead and 26 injured in fires in the north of the country

Europe 1 with AFP 15:56 p.m., July 24, 2023

Fifteen people died and 26 others were injured in the night from Sunday to Monday in forest fires, maquis and crops that affected three departments in northern Algeria, announced Monday the Ministry of the Interior.

In total, the country recorded 97 fires in 16 wilayas (prefectures) but the most violent broke out in Béjaïa, Bouira and Jijel, killing 15 people, the ministry said in a statement. These fires, fanned by very strong winds, reached residential areas in these three prefectures where 1,500 people threatened by the flames were evacuated, according to this source. In addition, Algeria is facing an intense heat wave in some of these regions, with temperature peaks of 48 degrees expected on Monday.

7,500 agents mobilized

Some 7,500 agents and 350 trucks, all capacities combined, were mobilized on the ground, supported by aerial firefighting assets, which made it possible to overcome most of these fires, according to the statement.

But "extinguishing operations continue in six wilayas: Boumerdes, Bouira, Tizi Ouzou, Bejaïa, Jijel and Skikda, with the mobilization of 13 mobile columns and 3,050 agents, who were supported, Monday morning, by 12 mobile columns and 1,200 additional agents," said the ministry.

Twelve firefighting aircraft are still deployed in these six wilayas, including fire-fighting helicopters of the army air force, including a "high-capacity firefighting aircraft," according to the statement.

More than 90 deaths in wildfires in 2021

The Ministry of the Interior called on citizens to "avoid areas affected by fires and to use the toll-free numbers made available to them for any report", ensuring that "the Civil Protection services remained mobilized until the total extinguishing of the fires".

Every summer, northern and eastern Algeria are affected by forest fires, a phenomenon that increases year after year under the effect of climate change, leading to droughts and heat waves. In August 2022, huge fires killed 37 people in the El Tarf region in the north-east of the country. The summer of 2021 was the deadliest in decades, when more than 90 people died in forest fires that devastated the north, particularly Kabylia.