Nearly 200 firefighters and other responders were still at work in Tafoughalt forest on Tuesday, trying to stamp out the last pockets of a blaze that sprang back to life overnight after burning through more than 42 hectares.
The fire has kept crews on their feet since Friday night in the rural commune of Melloussa, near the Tangier Med highway.
After two days of firefighting from the air and on the ground, much of the blaze had been brought under control. Then came the overnight flare-up.
A wildfire burns through the Tafoughalt forest near Tangier, Morocco.. سعيد قدري
By Tuesday morning, the main fronts were again contained, but the job was not quite finished. A handful of hotspots were still smouldering in rugged stretches of the forest where ground crews have struggled to get through.
Strong winds have made matters worse, with dense vegetation leaving little room for complacency even where the flames have been beaten back. The remaining pockets are being watched for any fresh flare-up until conditions allow crews to reach them and finish the job.
At one point, teams spent some 26 hours almost continuously on the ground, cutting access routes through the forest, attacking hotspots and securing the edges of the fire to keep it from making another run into surrounding woodland.
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The terrain has made much of that work a slog.
Royal Gendarmerie aircraft and Royal Moroccan Air Force planes were called in as the blaze spread, backing crews working below in difficult conditions.
The operation has brought together the Royal Armed Forces, Royal Gendarmerie, Auxiliary Forces, Civil Protection, local authorities, the National Agency for Water and Forests and National Promotion teams. Local volunteers and support crews have joined them.
A coordination unit has been running since the first flames were reported on Friday night, with personnel and equipment kept in the field round the clock. The operation is being supervised by the governor of the Fahs-Anjra province, with the province’s secretary-general also coordinating teams on the ground.
