A wildfire burns Monday in Akkar. (Credit: NNA)
BEIRUT — New fires broke out Monday in a number of regions of Lebanon as the country continues to experience high temperatures and dry weather conditions.
Here’s what we know:
• Monday’s blazes include an ongoing forest fire near the village of Qomam in Dinnieh in North Lebanon, the NNA reports, saying that amid strong winds in the area, fears are raised that the fire will spread to villages in Akkar. Villagers have reportedly called on the army and Civil Defense to intervene to curb the blaze.
• A fire also broke out Monday at a landfill in the Fneideq area in the north. Civil Defense and regional rescue teams intervened to extinguish the flames. “The high temperatures as well as the large quantities of garbage and the fumes which emanate from it started the fire,” our sister publication L’Orient-Le Jour reports the municipality head Samih Abdel-Hay as saying, adding that Abdel-Hay also noted that “efforts are continuing to contain the fire and put it out quickly.”
• In the south, a fire broke out in a field of dry grass located between houses on the road to Burj al-Muluk in Marjayoun. Civil Defense teams intervened and were able to extinguish it before the flames reached nearby houses, L’Orient-Le Jour reports.
• Lebanon’s firefighters have been battling intense blazes at various locations across the country since wildfires first erupted in Akkar last Wednesday, leading to the evacuation of residents and the death of a 15-year-old who was helping with the firefighting effort. The initial Akkar blazes were finally brought under control on Friday evening.
• The Civil Defense on Monday issued a report saying it had extinguished 133 fires across Lebanon in the past 72 hours, 102 of them in grassland or wooded locations. The blazes extinguished included seven forest fires — one in Bint Jbeil, two in the Chouf, three in Akkar and one in Mount Lebanon. It added that it had required the army’s assistance to put out four of those fires.
• Thirteen people were hospitalized as a result of last week’s fires in Hermel and Akkar, most of them suffering from breathing difficulties, Lebanese Red Cross spokesperson Nabih Jaber told L’Orient Today.