TE24 International Desk:
Morocco mobilized more firefighters and soldiers on Saturday to fight four days of wildfires burning in a remote forest area in the northern kingdom, local officials told AFP. Of these, 4,660 hectares (11,500 acres) have been damaged.
The fire was in Larache, where the largest fire occurred and one person died. According to local officials, more than 1,320 families have been evacuated from 19 villages in the region. Soldiers have been deployed to fight the fire in one of the most remote areas, Kasar LKBir. Hundreds of hectares of forest were also destroyed in neighboring Wezanne, Tetouan and Taja provinces.
Temperatures around 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit) and strong winds make fighting the blaze extremely difficult. However, authorities want reinforcements, and an expected change in weather on Sunday could give them some breathing room.
A North African country suffering from severe drought has recently seen temperatures rise to near 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit). Fires also spread across the Strait of Gibraltar in southern Europe from Spain and Portugal to France and Greece.
