Nearly 100 Canadair water drops and three days into the fight, crews in Chefchaouen were still chasing burning pockets across the mountains on Sunday as strong winds threatened to breathe life back into the forest fire.
Royal Air Force aircraft made another 28 targeted drops during the day, taking the total since the fire broke out on Friday to 98.
Around 70 had already been carried out over Friday and Saturday.
Rocky, sharply broken terrain around the Tanaghaia forest has put some burning areas beyond easy reach of vehicles, leaving teams to work their way towards embers and hotspots that could flare up again as the wind picks up.
The immediate task on Sunday was as much about keeping ground already fought over as gaining new ground.
Personnel from the Royal Armed Forces, Auxiliary Forces, Civil Protection and the National Agency for Water and Forests remained deployed along the fireline, joined by local authorities and National Promotion workers.
Read also : Canadairs make 70 drops as crews struggle to reach Chefchaouen fire pockets
Forest officials and rangers were mapping the coordinates of priority hotspots for teams moving through the area, while keeping watch on the fire’s movement towards nearby forests and villages.
Water, too, has had to follow the crews into difficult country.
Provincial authorities brought in specialized equipment to keep supplies moving, with machinery from the inter-municipal group and privately owned tanker trucks feeding water to rapid-intervention vehicles.
The fire has been burning since Friday, when flames broke out at Abrouj in the Bab El Qarn forest area.
Read also : Protecting Morocco’s forests: Experts call for stronger coordination and early action
By Saturday, an initial assessment put the damage at around 110 hectares of forest cover.
That figure remains provisional. The affected area is expected to rise once technical teams are able to complete their assessment.
No casualties have been reported.
Strong winds remain the more immediate concern. Even where flames have been knocked down, smouldering pockets can reignite and send the fire moving again through surrounding vegetation.
That has left crews cooling hotspots and guarding the edges of burnt areas while aircraft concentrate their drops on active pockets that are harder to reach from the ground.
