Morocco has lost nearly 600 hectares of forest after wildfires swept through parts of Taroudant, Beni Mellal and Azilal over the past three days, according to official figures.
The blazes destroyed a combined 598 hectares, triggering a large-scale response involving more than 1,180 firefighters, forest officials, security personnel, soldiers and local volunteers. Eight Canadair firefighting aircraft were deployed to support efforts to contain the fires.
The largest wildfire broke out Wednesday in the commune of Ounaine in Taroudant province, where it burned 403 hectares of forest before emergency crews managed to contain about 80% of the blaze.
Samir Tebrakent, head of the Forest Fire Service at the National Agency for Water and Forests, told Hespress Arabic that the fire had been surrounded and was no longer spreading into new areas.
“The remaining flames are confined to sections that have already burned or remain within the fire’s perimeter,” he said.
The Taroudant blaze briefly spread into neighboring Al Haouz province, where it consumed 14 hectares in the commune of Ijoukak before firefighters brought it under control Thursday morning.
Mohamed Imnir, regional director of the National Agency for Water and Forests in Al Haouz, said monitoring operations in the affected area were completed on Saturday.
He also dismissed reports claiming that the fire had reached the commune of Talat N’Yaaqoub, describing them as inaccurate.
In Beni Mellal province, firefighters fully extinguished a wildfire in the Ben Attar forest near Kasba Tadla around midday Saturday. The blaze, which started Thursday morning, destroyed 170 hectares of forest and an additional 30 to 40 hectares of nearby farmland.
Although the fire has been contained, emergency teams remain on site to prevent any flare-ups.
A third wildfire erupted Friday afternoon in the Infark forest near Afourar in Azilal province, burning 25 hectares. Authorities said approximately 70% of the blaze had been brought under control by Saturday evening.
Officials said 567 personnel were deployed to combat the Taroudant fire, while 365 worked to contain the blaze in Beni Mellal and another 250 were assigned to operations in Azilal.
The aerial response included four Canadair aircraft in Beni Mellal, two in Taroudant and two in Azilal, supporting ground crews as they battled the flames.
Authorities have not yet determined the causes of the three fires.
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