One person has died in raging fires that have ravaged remote forested areas of northern Morocco since Wednesday, prompting the evacuation of a thousand families, authorities told AFP on Friday.
“The body of a person with multiple burns was found” in one of the fires in the Larache region, according to a statement from the authorities.
At least 1,600 hectares of forest massifs have been destroyed in the provinces of Larache, Ouezzane, Tetouan and Taza, in the north of the country, according to a provisional balance.
The rapid progression of the flames, fanned by the “chergui”, a warm wind from the Sahara, forced 1,100 families to evacuate fifteen douars (villages) from the burned areas of Larache. In addition, some 645 inhabitants were evacuated in the provinces of Taza and Tetuán. In Tetouan, near the port of Tangier, about sixty houses burned down and about a hundred head of cattle perished.
Hundreds of people mobilized
In addition to four Canadair water pumps from the army, hundreds of elements from Civil Protection, Water and Forests, the Royal Armed Forces (FAR) and the Gendarmerie, assisted by local authorities and volunteers, mobilized to stop the spread of the fire. Reinforcements were sent to the scene.
One outbreak has been extinguished and another is under control in the province of Larache, according to local authorities.
Morocco has been suffering from a heat wave for several days, with temperatures close to 45 degrees Celsius, in a context of extraordinary drought and water stress. Across the Strait of Gibraltar, fires are raging in southern Europe. From Portugal to Greece via Spain and France.
Source: BFM TV
