Firefighters in Morocco battle infernos as villagers flee

• Almost 500 families have been evacuated from the provinces of Larache and Taza.
• At least 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of woodland have burned since Wednesday night.
• Civil defence personnel, soldiers, and police officers are battling to bring the fires under control.

LARACHE: Hundreds of Moroccan firefighters and troops fought late Thursday to extinguish at least four forest fires in the north of the kingdom, according to officials.

Official reports say that almost 500 families were moved out of the provinces of Larache and Taza “as a precaution” because of the fires, which were made worse in four places by strong winds.

A reporter for AFP said that military planes dropped water on many abandoned towns to put out fires that were spreading across the dry land.

Astonished by the rapid spread of the fires, locals fled their homes, with some families moving their livestock and horses — their means of subsistence—ahead of them.

“I was with my family, and at one point, we heard people shouting, ‘Fire! Fire!’,” said Samir Boundad of Larache.

“We ran out to flee and fortunately, thanks to God, the fire moved up the mountain.”

A village in the Ksar El Kebir region was devastated by the flames.

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Hundreds of civil defence personnel, soldiers, and police officers are attempting to prevent the fires from causing further damage.

In four provinces—Larache, Ouezzane, Tetouan, and Taza—inaccessible forestland was consumed by flames, according to the director of the National Center for Forest Climate Risk Management, Fouad Assali.

Assali was quoted by the official Moroccan news agency as saying, “Efforts are continuing in the hope of bringing these fires under control.”

At least 1,000 hectares (2,500 acres) of woodland have burned near Larache and Ouezzane since Wednesday night, leaving flaming trees under a smoke-filled sky.

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