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Rabat – Moroccan Royal Air Force deployed several Canadair water bombers to fight fires in Chefchaouen on August 14.
Chefchaouen authorities deployed approximately 20 land-based firefighting vehicles, at least two Canadair aircraft, and roughly 160 firefighters to the area, in response to the fires that broke out Saturday.
According to FAR-Maroc, two Royal Air Force Canadair CL-415, with the serial numbers SPRAYER40 and SPRAYER42, were deployed to help contain the fires. Other local news outlets suggest that as many as four aircrafts have been deployed. These are the same model of aircraft that Morocco’s King Mohammed VI offered Algeria to help them manage the ongoing wildfires in the country.
Morocco has five Canadair CL-415 auxiliary aircraft that were initially designed and developed by Canadair in the early 1990’s. The aircraft is capable of discharging 6,137 liters of water in a matter of seconds, and it only takes 12 seconds to refill up with water from a lake or a river.
The fires broke out in Chefchaouen, scorching a large area of forest covering 16 hectares, according to local news. The fire started at approximately 1 pm in Tchinwaghine Douar, Bab Taza, near Chefchaouen.
August fires destroyed almost 300 hectares of the Akesmae forest close to the Moroccan city last year, and more than 470 hectares near Akchour in 2019.
There has been an increase in the incidence of wildfires due to the occurrence of frequent heat waves in the country. In July, fires burned over 1,200 hectares of forest in Morocco. The disasters have seen the mobilization of over 700 people and 96 ground intervention vehicles.
With temperatures ranging between 46 and 50 degrees Celsius, concurrent strong winds led to the outbreak and spread of over 20 forest fires in 10 provinces across Morocco.
Studies showed “increasing trends in hot thermal phenomena and decreasing trends in cold phenomena during the day and at night in all regions of Morocco,” according to Meriem Alaour of the General Directorate of Meteorology, who recently explained to the Moroccan radio station RIM Radio, commenting on the increasingly frequent heatwaves.
