Couple Mohammed Drihem
Ifrane: Tuesday, May 9, 2023. The Governor of the Province of Ifrane; Abdelhamid El Mazid chaired this current Tuesday, May 09; an extended meeting devoted to the Forest Fire Prevention and Fighting program in these times of great heat wave on the eve of a 2023 summer season which promises to be even hotter with the presence of dry and abundant vegetation, combined drought and long persistent chergui heat waves which increase the risk of forest fires and their consequences on the environment, biodiversity and local populations.
In his speech opening the work of this meeting, Abdelhamid El Mazid emphasized at first glance that the issue of forest fires today is a hot topic, especially since they started very early this year and have been since the month of March, April and today again in this month of May where the civil protection services intervene every day, two to three times a day, to circumscribe small fires especially in Ifrane and its agglomeration. Hence the interest of this meeting devoted to this issue of prevention and fight against forest fires with a view to preparing a scenario and a provincial action plan a little different from those of previous years. precise.
According to the Governor of Ifrane, there is already an action plan pre-established respectively by the department of water and forests and that of civil protection, but also an action plan is planned this year with civil society headed by the national protection with awareness sessions from May 21st.
Indeed, for the Provincial Director of ANEF, the Department of Water and Forests, the annual forest fire prevention program being implemented for the year 2023-24 for a total amount of 6 839,000.00 Dhs relates to the control and installation of lookouts with the assistance of 06 forest cooperatives and 13 Association of Sylvopastoral Management, silvicultural and depressing works of an area of 664 hectares, the repair of VPI, the maintenance of 06 Kms of forest tracks and the study of the maintenance of 38 other Kms of tracks and finally the maintenance of 4 water points.
Within this same framework of preparation, the DPEF proceeds to the inventory and the repair of the machines and tools of fight against fires including VPI vehicles, fire bats, sprayers, chainsaws, shovels and pickaxes and their distribution on the different centers
For his part, the provincial civil protection commander gave a brief overview of the most sensitive areas exposed to the risks of forest fires and a census of the various fires recorded between 2018 and 2022. At the same time, he gave an overview of the various human and material means of intervention in the fight against forest fires available to the province of Ifrane, in particular at the level of the respective water and forest parks, auxiliary forces, civil protection and that of the national promotion.
At the end of this meeting, the various presidents of the local authorities and external officials concerned such as the DPA and the DPE and the security services ensured the assistance of their mobilization to succeed in this campaign to prevent and fight against forest fires. while providing all the necessary human and material resources at their disposal to lend a hand to the brave firefighters.