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Every year, Algeria is confronted with forest fires. The risks associated with this phenomenon increase with rising temperatures. Colonel Farouk Achour, Director of Information and Statistics at Civil Protection, assured that this year again, anticipatory and preventive measures aimed at preventing the country from reliving the nightmare of the forest fires of summer 2021 and preserving lives and property have been taken.
For Colonel Achour, the fight against forest fires is being prepared. “The General Directorate of Civil Protection has decided, from now on, to anticipate events, by releasing significant resources allowing it to better prepare and arm itself against this threat,” he indicated, this Wednesday, on National Radio, affirming that each time we anticipate, that we allocate resources and that we raise awareness, we record fewer fire outbreaks.
Colonel Achour assured, in this sense, that all human and material resources are mobilized to ensure a highly secure summer season and an optimal response to forest fires, in particular by aerial means, and this within the framework of the system fire protection already operational since May.
“The DGPC has decided to mobilize for the year 2024, as part of the fight against forest, crop and palm grove fires, 505 units, in addition to 105 mobile columns specialized in the fight against this phenomenon. The latter have been equipped in terms of qualification by professionals specially trained in forest fires and equipped with adequate means,” he said.
The Civil Protection system is also marked by the deployment of five forest fire intervention reinforcement detachments (DRIFF), which are highly effective regional intervention groups. These DRIFFs are distributed across several wilayas, such as Taref, Blida, Chlef and Sidi Bel-Abbès.
In addition to all these resources committed to the fight against forest fires, Colonel Achour said that it is also a question of engaging the air routes. “This year, we chartered 12 medium-sized water bomber planes, compared to last year when only 6 planes were made available. This is an important achievement that is part of the national policy of strengthening intervention and firefighting capacities,” he assured, adding that this will contribute to strengthening interventions and will allow speed and efficiency.
The fight against forest fires, the speaker said, also involves the walis in creating water points, operational markers and reducing response time in the event of fires breaking out.
Colonel Achour said that to use all of these resources, it is necessary to have technical expertise and operational intelligence to be effective in fighting forest fires.
In addition to the mobilization of material and human resources on the ground, prevention remains, according to him, the most effective bulwark against this great threat that has unfortunately accompanied the summer season for several years. He said, in this sense, that a huge amount of work has been done in coordination with other organizations, such as the National Gendarmerie and the services of the General Directorate of Forests, emphasizing that Civil Protection is only one link in the chain involved in the fight against forest fires.
Numerous awareness and information campaigns on the risks of forest, harvest and palm grove fires have been organized, he said, in many wilayas.
In this context, the Civil Protection services have accompanied the fellahs during the harvesting operations, in order to reduce the damage. “The fellahs are made aware of the techniques that they can themselves use to prevent fires from breaking out,” he added, stressing that the same operational system is in place in the palm groves, in the southern regions of the country, and it began to be functional from May.
Colonel Achour was keen to point out that the instructions of the President of the Republic were clear, particularly through the preparation of resources and the establishment of the legal mechanisms necessary to avoid this type of situation. “These directives were applied by all those involved in the fight against forest fires and this produced results,” he added.