Perilous Times
Residents flee raging Lebanon forest fire
by Staff Writers
Fatri, Lebanon (AFP) Dec 5, 2010
Firefighters in Lebanon battled a forest blaze on Sunday that has raged
out of control for the past week, and frightened villagers north of
Beirut fled as flames threatened to engulf their homes.
As an international flotilla of firefighting planes in neighbouring
Israel finally brought under control the largest fire in that nation's
history after a four-day battle, 42 separate blazes were reported in
Lebanon, four of them large, the civil defence services said.
President Michel Sleiman travelled to the village of Fatri, 45
kilometres (30 miles) north of Beirut to inspect efforts to control the
blaze, which has devastated 150,000 square metres (1.6 million square
feet) of woodland.
Municipal council leader Imad Daou told AFP that rough terrain hampered
the firefighting effort while high winds had fanned the flames. "Trees
more than 100 years old, olive groves and pines have been lost," he
said.
No lives have been reported lost, but six civil defence personnel have
suffered minor injuries. Frightened villagers began to flee from their
homes on Sunday.
Lebanese army helicopters tried to douse the flames from the air, while
firefighters battled the blaze on the ground.
In Ankara, a diplomat said two Turkish firefighting planes that had
been used to battle the Israel inferno would fly to Lebanon on Monday
to help tackle the blaze there.
The decision was taken after Prime Minister Saad Hariri asked Turkey to
help, the diplomat added.
A civil defence official said Lebanon's emergency services were
fighting "numerous fires" in different parts of the country fuelled by
tinderbox conditions.
Another large blaze raged on Sunday in the Wadi Shahrur area close to
the capital, also threatening homes.
"We need three times more capacity to face these fires," Interior
Minister Ziad Baroud told reporters.
"The inability to put out the fires is due to a lack of strategy,"
Sleiman told LBC television. "We must work out a national plan to fight
fires," he said, adding his regret that "political tensions delay
everything."
According to the meteorological service, Lebanon has recorded just 51.2
millimetres (two inches) of rain since September, compared with 214.8
millimetres in the same period last year.
South of the border in Israel, affected by the same extended summer
conditions and drought, 41 people died in the fire that was finally
brought under control on Sunday.
burs/srm