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“390 fires identified at the national level since early May”
Djamel Touahria, Director General of Forests (DGF)
The Director General of Forests (DGF), Djamel Touahria, returned to the national prevention and fighting campaign against forest fires, claiming that his services had recorded, since the beginning of May, 390 fires at the national level, which were completely circumscribed. “These fires touched 1,789 hectares, mainly land belonging to individuals, a figure down in relation to the same period of 2024 In which 1,950 hectares ravaged by the fires were identified, “he told the APS. He pointed out that the national campaign for the prevention and fight against forest fires advanced at a good speed, in particular thanks to the human and material resources mobilized for this purpose.
These surfaces, he observed, are distributed as follows: around 630 hectares of forests and 150 hectares of fruit trees, while the rest is made up of thickets and bushes. He noted that the largest area ravaged by fire was recorded in Djaafra, in the wilaya of Bordj Bou Arreridj, with 705 hectares. “This fire was mastered, despite the rugged relief and the density of the forest concerned which extends over 34,000 hectares,” assured the CEO of forests.
He estimated that this assessment is very positive compared to the countries of the Mediterranean basin, like Spain, France, Turkey and Syria which recorded significant damage following fires.
Stressing that the total and rapid extinction of the fires identified was possible thanks to the human and material resources mobilized for this purpose, whose drones, Djamel Touahria, welcomed the contribution of higher education establishments and start-ups to the development of innovative warning systems for fires. In particular, he said, the system designed at the Development Center for Advanced Technologies (CDTA) in Médéa, including a luminous pulse transmitter device that scans the horizon via a rotary system, allowing the smoke to be remotely detected a fire potential. And the system developed by a start-up consisting of surveillance cameras, able to provide all the necessary data from the start of fire and allow its geolocation.
Referring to the rehabilitation and extension operation of the green dam, the same official revealed that the wooded surface had exceeded 25,200 hectares, on an area scheduled by 2030 estimated at 400,000 hectares.
“In addition to reforestation, the operation includes other programs consisting in fighting against the enabled by planting, through modern techniques, fixing sand dunes and creating nurseries in the wilayas concerned,” he continued. Finding that a special program has been set up to extend the areas devoted to cork oak and protect them in order to increase the volume of production and to return to Algeria its place as a leader in this sector at the level of the Mediterranean region. “It is also planned to devote areas of 2,000 hectares to the planting of bench and other species, as part of industrial silviculture, including the wood industry,” he added.
Note that as part of the national campaign for the prevention and fight against forest fires, 6,000 agents were mobilized, in addition to the supply of rapid intervention vehicles, the opening of tracks and firewall trenches (control towers) and the production of several forests of forests, thus allowing immediate intervention in order to extinguish fires and jugulate the effects.
Rabah Mokhtari