Rédaction Africa Links 24 with Mina Elkhodari
Published on 2024-03-21 22:28:00
The phenomenon of forest fires has become a major concern for Morocco, especially in the context of the extension and intensification of the risk due to climate change. This is why our country is working to strengthen its firefighting system, especially aerially, by implementing new, more effective and efficient intervention methods.
In this regard, the Kingdom has announced its intention to acquire two new Canadair planes, including a CL-415, by 2024. The price of the CL-415 ranges between 20 and 25 million euros and it is of Canadian manufacture.
This water bomber can make multiple rotations per hour to pick up and drop a little over 6,000 liters of water on fires in a few seconds. It only takes 12 seconds above a body of water (a lake, a basin, a sea, a river, etc.), with a depth of at least 2 meters and a width of 90 meters, for this air firefighter to make a full load of water.
In addition to this important purchasing project, Morocco will increase its Canadair fleet to 8 aircraft, up from the current 6, according to reports from Spanish media. These reports emphasize that Morocco has one of the largest forested areas in North Africa, with an area of approximately 5.8 million hectares.
It should be noted that recent climate fluctuations and high temperatures have also led to fires in many forests in the northern part of the Kingdom, causing significant damage. Due to climate change, particularly drought, the forests in the northern part of the country experience forest fires during the summer heat periods.
However, it is worth mentioning that these fires have seen a significant decrease in recent years but they are still significant. Up to October 5, 2023, there were 395 forest fires recorded, affecting an area of 6,420 hectares compared to 22,800 in 2022.
Canadairs are now more than ever the backbone of the national strategy for fighting forest fires. Morocco remains the only African and Arab country equipped with Canadairs, alongside other countries such as Canada, the United States, and South Korea.
In addition to its aerial system, Morocco is focusing on new technologies to enhance this new system based on Artificial Intelligence and Big Data to map forest fire risk and trigger appropriate intervention alerts accordingly. Currently, it offers a daily forest fire prediction platform for the Tanger-Tétouan-Al Hoceima pilot region, which will be expanded later on.
This system has already enabled the mobilization of more efficient and effective alert and intervention means, particularly through the appropriate positioning of ground and aerial intervention resources near potential fire starting locations. This translates into reduced intervention times and greater operational efficiency.
As the summer season approaches, forest fires are already multiplying, causing significant damage. Just on Wednesday, March 20, the oasis “Oulad Chaker” in the Aoufous Commune of the Errachidia province was the scene of a fire that ravaged about 900 palm trees over an area of 11 hectares, without causing any human casualties, according to the available report until Thursday morning.
In a statement to the Maghreb Arabe Presse “MAP” agency, Bouâzza Mimouni, Regional Commander of Civil Protection in Draa-Tafilalet, emphasized that the fire, declared on Wednesday at 10:30 am, spread rapidly due to the strong winds in the area.
He added that the fire was completely controlled at 3:50 pm on the same day, thanks to the intervention of civil prevention agents, in coordination with local authorities, members of the Royal Armed Forces, Auxiliary Forces, and the Royal Gendarmerie.
It is worth noting that significant human and logistical resources were mobilized to control this fire, highlighting the importance of investing in a highly sophisticated firefighting fleet.
Read the original article(French) on L’Opinion
