Tipaza fires: destroying 191 hectares of forest areas

The governor of Tipaza, Mohamed Amin Ben Chaoulia, revealed on Sunday that about 191 hectares of forest areas and fruit trees had been destroyed as a result of the forest fires that broke out last Thursday in the forests of four municipalities located in the west of the state.

The governor explained, in a statement specifically to him/waj, that “the results of the initial assessments indicate the destruction of 191 hectares of forest areas and fruit trees, while the field investigation committees did not record any other notable losses, especially regarding homes,” stressing that “the farmers will be compensated for the recorded losses.”

In this context, the head of the executive branch confirmed that the initial assessment presented by the field investigation committees that began their work on Saturday with the aim of assessing losses and damages revealed that losses were recorded in the form of crops, fruit trees, irrigation equipment, and some heads of livestock, as well as losses affecting beekeeping boxes.

The governor indicated that “after the completion of the investigations and census operations, reports will be submitted to the central public authorities in order to allocate financial funds to compensate farmers for the previously mentioned losses.”

The forest areas destroyed by the fires will also be compensated for in the forests of the municipalities of Bani Milk, Al-Arhat, Muslims, and Hajrat Al-Nas, by organizing large afforestation campaigns with the involvement of civil society, according to the same source.

Regarding the causes of the fires, the governor of Tipaza said, “Immediately after they broke out, the relevant security services launched extensive investigations to determine the circumstances of their outbreak, and the results of the ongoing investigations will be announced upon completion by those services.”