Canadair aircraft had made at least 70 water drops by Saturday as more than 360 personnel fought for a second day to keep a forest fire in Chefchaouen province from spreading into neighboring woodland.
On the ground, the mountains were proving a harder adversary. Crews were struggling to reach some pockets of the blaze through the rugged terrain around Abrouj, where the fire broke out on Friday in the Bab El Qarn forest sector.
The flames have burned through stands of maritime pine, Pyrenean oak and holm oak, as well as other vegetation. How much forest has been lost remains unclear, with authorities holding off on an acreage estimate while the operation is still under way.
For now, the fight is to stop the fire travelling further. That has brought 362 people into the operation, with the Royal Armed Forces supplying the largest contingent—160 personnel.
Another 50 have come from the Auxiliary Forces, 45 from the National Agency for Water and Forests and 25 from Civil Protection. Local authorities have deployed 12 personnel. Residents have pitched in too, with around 40 people from the area working alongside the official teams.
Getting enough people onto the mountain, however, is only half the battle. Five rapid-intervention vehicles, a forest-fire tanker, four other water tankers and 15 light vehicles have been sent in, but the broken ground has left some fire fronts difficult to tackle from below.
The Canadairs have been taking those on from above. At least 70 water drops had been carried out by Saturday in support of crews trying to work their way through the affected forest—a sharp escalation in the aerial operation as the fire moved into its second day.
