Several fires broke out in different parts of Lebanon today.
One of these blazes is devastating the wasteland between Zekrit and Jeita in the Keserwan region. The cause of the fire is not yet known. Civil Defense vehicles, backed up by army helicopters, are attempting to extinguish the flames.
Another fire broke out in the town of Farhat, in the Jbeil region. Civil Defense teams from the Jbeil regional center and the Bejjeh, Qartaba, and Anaya centers were on hand to extinguish it.
A third fire broke out at 4 p.m. on the Sayedat Al-Hosn road in the Mar Sarkis and Bacchus forests in Ehden, northern Lebanon. Members of the Civil Defense and a group of environmental activists worked to extinguish it.
Other fires were reported in Blaouza in the Bcharreh region and in Haouqa near Zgharta.
For the fifth consecutive day, firefighting operations are taking place in the Sfireh pine forest in Denniyeh. The firefighting teams have so far been unable to extinguish or control the blaze. The flames have spread throughout the forest, and plumes of black smoke darken the sky.
At the request of the Denniyeh Forestry Center, nearby localities are launching loudspeaker appeals, calling on residents to help extinguish the fire.
Meanwhile, army helicopters, Civil Defense teams, the Denniyeh Forestry Center, municipalities, the Emergency and Rescue Agency, and volunteers continue their efforts to control the fire and prevent its spread. A difficult mission, to say the least, given that the fire is spreading in rugged, hard-to-reach areas of the forest and that winds favor the spread of the flames: local residents fear that the fire will cause significant environmental damage to the forest and the region and will approach farmland and residential areas.
The first fire in this series broke out on Monday in the forests of Raboueh, in the Metn region, and came close to homes. It was brought under control with difficulty after several days of effort.
The Directorate General of Civil Defense estimated in a press release that “the number of fires reached an unprecedented level during the hours of the day”. It declared that in Mount Lebanon, the fires were spread over several cazas, namely Metn (Raboueh), Keserwan (Koleiaat, Abu Mizan, Jeita, Kfardebian), Aley (Batater), Shouf (Aamatour, Nahr el Hamam, Gharifa, Batloun, Al Fuwara, Al Bireh, Baakline, Ras el Dib, Eghmid, Beiteddine), Baabda (Botchai), Iqlim al-Kharroub (Hasrout, Aanout), Haut-Metn (Hamana), and Jbeil (Aalmat, Farhat).
In Northern Lebanon, fires also affected a number of regions: Ehden, Blaouza (Bcharreh), Dinniyeh, Akkar Al Aatika and Beit Yunis.
The Directorate General of Civil Defense, which warned of the risk of fires given the favorable climatic conditions prevailing in Lebanon (high temperatures and strong winds), called on citizens to exercise the utmost caution and refrain from setting fire to dry grass for any reason whatsoever (skimming, clearing), failing which ecological disasters could result.
Asked about the causes of these fires, the Civil Defense spokesman said they “are generally of human origin", adding that they may or may not be intentional.
The “Terre-Liban” association said in a statement that “Akkar is burning and Lebanon is burning”, stressing that “every year we end the summer season with catastrophic arson fires, which the Civil Defense centers, the Lebanese army, and associations fight with minimal resources”.
“Terre-Liban” castigated the Ministry of the Environment for 'promising strategies and millions of dollars in international aid to fight fires, and the result is: strategies written on paper, forests with minimal care, management, and control, and unequipped municipalities'.
The association also criticized the Ministry of Agriculture for issuing permits in burned areas, despite its claims to be fighting illegal logging.
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