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Algeria Mourns as Dozens Die in Raging Wildfires

Algeria's president, Abdelmadjid Tebboune, declared three days of national mourning amid the rising death toll from raging wildfires in the north of the country, The Guardian reports. The UK newspaper is quoting the state-run news agency APS as saying that the rash of more than 50 fires, which broke out on August 10, 2021 had claimed four more lives, bringing the total to 69, including 28 soldiers deployed to help the emergency services. Voice of America reports that Algerian officials are blaming arsonists for setting many of the fires. VOA says that the government has contacted a number of regional countries to seek help from planes equipped to combat the blazes.

France 24 reports that meteorologists expect the heat wave across North Africa to continue until the end of the week, with temperatures in Algeria reaching 46C. In neighbouring Tunisia, the capital Tunis hit an all-time record of 49C on August 10, 2021. The Tunisian emergency services reported 15 fires across the north and northwest, but no casualties. An International Federation of Red Cross situation report says wildfires have been reported in border regions between Tunisia and Algeria.

RFI reports that fires have caused devastation in several Mediterranean countries in recent days, including Greece, Turkey and Cyprus. They have also been raging in the western United States.

NASA Earth Observatory

On August 10, 2021, the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite acquired this natural-color image of a vast smoke plume over northern Algeria. Some of the worst fires have occurred in mountain areas near Bejaia and Tizi-Ouzou. (NASA Earth Observatory image by Lauren Dauphin, using MODIS data from NASA EOSDIS LANCE and GIBS/Worldview.)

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