Fires: northern Morocco in turn affected by major forest fires – franceinfo

The mobilization continues Monday, August 16, in northern Morocco, to control the fires that have already decimated more than 700 hectares of forest in three days, while eight outbreaks remain active in neighboring Algeria, said the authorities of the two countries.

In Morocco, more than 500 people, including firefighters and soldiers, “are always mobilized to put an end to these fires”, the head of the National Center for Forest Climate Risk Management, Fouad Assali, told the official MAP news agency. Some 725 hectares of a forest near the tourist town of Chefchaouen have already been engulfed by the fires declared on Saturday, he said.

According to AFP journalists on the spot, the fires were receding Monday, with the exception of a few burning surfaces scattered and under control. An investigation has been opened to determine the causes of the fire, which left no victims. Heat and wind can be triggers.

Several regions of the kingdom have recorded since Friday, and at least until Tuesday, temperatures of up to 49 ° C, according to the meteorology department. The Mediterranean basin has been affected over the past two weeks by fires, particularly in Greece, Turkey and Algeria. In the latter country, some 90 people have died or gone missing since last Monday in the fires, mostly of origin “criminal” according to the authorities.